Castles in the Sky
by Ruby Silverstone
Summary: Life has an interesting habit of throwing itself into a blender, and when Sakura wakes one day seeing things that she shouldn't, she unknowingly pushes the button labeled 'high speed.' Magic, combat styled PE classes, and mythical creatures have a way of spinning a twist on the high school perspective. "This is abduction." He smiles a Cheshire grin. "A normal occurrence, I swear."
1. Prologue

Castles in the Sky

Denial was something that Sakura Haruno rarely bothered with. It wasn't because she found it overtly annoying, though it did have the propensity to bug her on occasion, usually when it wasn't herself utilizing it. And it by no means angered her. No, not anger at all. It was only that there were certain limitations to the tool of the trade, as some would say. For instance, if you were to vehemently deny that you had a crush on the guy that sat next to you in fifth hour, then your friends are bound to notice something so obvious. Another example is if you were to suddenly be kidnapped and throw yourself into denial, which affords a certain amount of time in which you are _not _trying to escape. So while there are many times where Sakura whole-heartedly and ruthlessly quashes any emotions that she may or may not feel, she found denial to be mostly useless on a larger scale. Because, for anything, denial was simply a word used when someone simply didn't want to accept the truth. _The _truth. The truth of anything.

So when, on the first day of school, she walked into her second period class and saw a demon, she told herself then and there that she wasn't going to waste any time and immediately began to catalog everything about him. He had horns like a rams spiraling on either side of his that were the color of ivory, hair so blond that it was nearly white, and brilliant violet eyes. Beyond these quite noticeable traits he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and for the whole world looked like an ordinary teenager. So, seeing as she wasn't going to scream and make a fuss over it because she was honestly in a quasi state of shock, she casually looked around the classroom and observed the other students. No one else was screaming or pointing fingers and because she was fairly certain that every single one of them couldn't possibly be in the same frame of mind as her at the moment, she had to come to the conclusion that either they _couldn't _see him, or that they had always known and she was the freak who didn't get the memo.

Seeing as how the second option was even more unlikely than the first, she had to conclude that she could now see supernatural beings. Oh.

And then he noticed her staring.

Everything went downhill from there.

He cornered her after class, subtly ushering her into a little alcove next to the drinking fountains and out of the direct line of sight of on-coming student traffic. She surprisingly wasn't all that worried, because she could see the questions in his eyes and she had about a bazillion just clamoring on the tip of her tongue. With an almost delicate flick of his wrist, the outside world disappeared. Well. Not really '_disappeared' _as she could still clearly see the people going on around her. But suddenly there was no noise. It was like someone had just pressed the mute button. She looked to the hand that had performed the mute-button-wrist-flicking thing and wondered what else it could do.

"You can see me."

"You're not killing me." Was her immediate response, and probably just as impulsive as his own. Duh, she could see him. They wouldn't be in this position if she couldn't. And no, he wasn't killing her, but she still had reservations about that. He could just be waiting for a dark alley to pop up soon. He _was _a demon, after all. Never mind that he was attending a pre-calculus class with her and sat roughly two desks away and one and a half diagonally to her right and up. Later, when she was in the privacy of her bathroom, she would dissect that thought and find that a lot of myths and lore had epic proportions of explaining to do. Since when did demons wear t-shirts that had _you mad bro _printed across it?

"You're not freaking out." Was the next plainly stated fact. "No," she answered. He narrowed those impossibly colored eyes at her. "Are you in shock?" She mutely shook her head, before stopping and canting it to one side. "Good question. Do I look like it?" She thought he looked mildly amused before shaking his head. "Look, I'm pretty sure both of us have questions," he said, ripping a sizable chunk of paper from one of the notebooks he was carrying. Pulling a pen from his pocket he used the cover of the notebook as a surface and hastily scrawled something down on it and handed it to her. "This is my phone number, email, and address."

"Rather personal, don't you think?" She didn't really think it was personal; it was just that it was a demon that was giving her his contact information that made her leery. He gave her a rather pointed look. "Believe me when I say it's a precaution. I'm meeting you after school by the fountain in the courtyard. Go directly there."

Green eyes clashed with violet. She wrinkled her nose. "You're not going to eat me or curse me or something, are you? I'd be up for a memory wipe if you positively had to but if it's painful then you can just forget it."

She was surprised when he laughed, even more so by the fact that she had been trying to make him. Looking at her with slightly disbelieving eyes, he ran lithe fingers through his hair, expertly avoiding the horns that were still, distractingly, placed on either side of his skull. "You have got to be the strangest human I have ever met. And as far as wiping you memory, we usually leave that to the dryads. And even then you have to be calling in a favor. Pesky tree nymphs."

"…um, okay."

The bell rung, shrill and loud above them. They both swore at the same time and then darted off. "Fountain, after school!"

"Kay, see ya!"

Like most of the occurrences of this day, she would look back and wonder at the overlapping _normality _of it. Sprinting down the rapidly clearing halls, she wondered if anything she ever read about was actually true. She wasn't a mythical creature fanatic, but even she was partially aware that dryads were _supposed _to be tied to their specific race of trees and though they held sway over the wood of those trees, their abilities were rather limited. Things to do with memory sounded more like a witch or fairy. Shaking her head, Sakura walked into her world history class and picked up a syllabus from a center table before plopping unceremoniously on a desk at the very back of the class. A boy jostled up the aisle she had just recently occupied and took a seat at the desk next to her. He smiled at her. She noticed fangs.

"Enjoying your first day back at prison?"

It was casual. It was charming. And it was entirely too good of an act. "It's been…enlightening." He raised an eyebrow at her and she found herself caught in a mesmerizing set of ruby red eyes. "How so?" Her eyes dropped to the claws he was idly tapping into the desk and swallowed. "Oh, this and that." The tapping abruptly stopped and she snapped her eyes back to his, meeting a calculating stare. Not a moment later they heard a buzzing noise. He gave her one last scrutinizing look before breaking out in a grin that stretched his face. "And so the texting battle begins!" he joked. Yep, definitely fangs.

Flipping his phone open, she let her eyes wander so that he would have some privacy and instead stared at the syllabus as the last straggling students began to file in. She felt more than saw him tense next her before relaxing marginally and slipping his phone shut with an audible click. "What do you see when you look at me?"

She looked at him and wondered if the blond had a connection with all the demons that apparently attended her school. "Red eyes, fangs, claws, and…" she noticed a eerie looking tattoo that started at his right forearm and curled up to his wrist. "A tattoo." He grinned. "Tattoo's normal, but correct on all other counts." And with that he let loose a very disconcerting grin before flipping his syllabus open at the teachers command. She did the same but kept her eyes on him. "Why can I see you?" He shrugged elegantly. "What's your name?" She took careful note of her easily avoided question and briefly considered giving him the wrong name just to screw with him. He cast her a sidelong look that held a particular gleam, as if saying he would know if she would lie. It creeped her out. "Sakura."

"Aki," he winked. "Welcome to the Underworld."

And with that, the class began. She puzzled over his parting words for a most of the class before deciding that she'd rather drown herself in boring expectations for what was looking like an equally boring class. As it turned out, she didn't have much luck doing that for the rest of the day because she kept seeing _them. _

And by _them _she was referring to the demons that kept inexplicably popping up and giving her heartfelt welcomes to the 'Underworld.' Not to mention that there was at least one or two demons in each and every one of her classes. By the end of the day, her nerves were shot and she was quite frazzled.

Peachy-keen.

Still, she allowed her feet to carry her to the fountain because if there was one thing her fried brain cells processed, it was the fact that seeing these _people _was not normal, therefore _she _was not normal. And that was a disconcerting thought, indeed.

The fountain was that was located directly at the center of the courtyard, or quad, was circular and built to look like a spire shooting straight up to the sky. Circular bowls were built into the shaft, gradually getting larger near the bottom so they overflowed over each other. Sakura thought it was a rather dull looking thing, what with no embellishments. To add insult to injury, it was well known that kids poured soda into the water and through their gum like coins. But, despite the overall grime of the thing that janitors tried and failed to clean every year, it was a popular meeting place and saw more traffic than Grand Central Station. Or at least that's what she thought.

The blond was even more easy to notice out in the open sun. His hair shining silver in the light, his ivory horns gleaming and his striking eyes luminescent. He smiled charmingly at her, and she immediately froze. Somehow, that smile seemed like the click to the lock. Why she felt that way, anyone could say.

"So," he said shortly, unfolding some sunglasses and sliding them over his ears. "Do you have to be home anytime soon?"

She blinked. "Are you _sure _you're not going to kill me?" He gave a loud laugh before offering his hand. "Nothing so drastic. I'm just going to find out why on earth you…" he gestured to his features lightly so their conversation wouldn't draw any strange stares. Smiling, he offered his hand yet again. "C'mon. It'll be good for both our sakes. You so you understand why, me so I understand how, and then we can work from there, deal?"

Sakura got the distinct impression that she shouldn't trust him, that something was wrong, that going to his house would sign her doom with a flourish.

In a way, she was right.

She did end up going to his house. Which, in fact, turned out to be a sizable apartment that he shared with three other guys, all demons naturally. There, she had been offered a drink, and like an idiot, took it. It was spiked with some kind of sleeping potion or some other crap and when she woke up, she was rightfully pissed. She went on a rampage, incensed before noticing another figure in the room that hadn't been there before. Her tirade abruptly stopped.

Two hours forty-five minutes later, she sat at her desk wearing a pair of boy shorts and a tank top, her damp hair draping down to her waist. Her neck had a rather painful crick in it from looking downward for too long, but she couldn't stop staring. On her desk was a small box that could fit into her palm. She already knew what was inside, had already seen its contents, but her hands still trembled as she lifted the lid. Inside lay a simple band of metal, free of any kind of embellishments and burnished to a shine. It wasn't a large trinket by any means, but to her, it looked like it could have dwarfed Mt. Everest.

Sakura leaned back into her chair, deep into the throes of disbelief. She looked at herself in the mirror of her vanity and stared at her absolutely normal appearance. Her brown hair was long and slightly damp, the color darkened by the water, and her light, brown-green eyes were wide with uncertainty. Turning away from her confused reflection, she stared at her bed. Mind made up, she turned away from the box and wearily shuffled to her bed and promise of pillows. She'd freak out tomorrow.

Collapsing onto her covers, too tired to bother even getting under them, she reflected on an earlier conversation that day. "Am I in shock?" she repeated in a mocking lilt. "Damn straight I am, you cocksure goat."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter I

It was precisely 5:23 AM when Akira's phone began to buzz uncontrollably, ringing like an alarm bell in his ear. Wretched from his peaceful sleep immediately, the blond sat bolt upright in his bed. Startled eyes worked around his room for a moment, and then he collapsed backwards into his pillow. Groaning, he reached for his still blaring phone, and with a quick look at the caller ID, flipped it open and pressed it to his ear. "Mmm?"

_"__Akira._"

"Sakura," he mumbled grumpily. "Why the hell are you calling me at five in the morning?"

_"__My hair," _she fairly seethed into the phone. Akira pulled it away to look at the device incredulously, as if his disbelief would somehow make it through the phone and to the person on the other end of it. "Are you serious?" he asked, a little peeved. "You called me because of a _hair crisis._"

_"__It's lot longer and bright bubble-gum __pink_._" _

White-blond eyebrows shot upwards, making his violently purple eyes all the wider. "Pink?" he reaffirmed. _"Pink." _She said primly, an edge of panic to her voice. Sitting up in bed a second time, he rubbed at his eyes. "Mm-kay. Be over in a minute. Are you decent?"

_"__What? Yes, of course I'm decent." _

"Good," he replied, pulling on some shorts and a shirt. Snapping his phone closed, he pocketed it before running his hand through his blond locks. Clearing the haze from his still bleary violet eyes, he muttered a few curses and with a slight shift in the air accompanied by a soft pop, he disappeared.

Sakura gave a shriek of fright when the blond demon suddenly appeared right in front of her, dropping her phone out of her startled hands. He grinned at her, guiltless. "Boo."

"Asshole."

"That was rude."

"I have pink hair. _Pink._" Akira took note of her appearance carefully, chewing his lip in the process. Sakura's hair had quite literally grown a foot, the ends tickling the backs of her thighs. But what was the strangest part of this was that from the roots of her hair to just a little ways past her shoulders her hair color was a brilliant shade of cotton candy pink. From that point down was the original color of dull brown it was before. He also noticed that her eyes had turned into an impossible shade of deep emerald green. His eyebrows raised a fraction when he discovered that even her eyelashes were pink. Giving a low whistle, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, it looks like you grew into your name, Sakura."

"_Why is this happening?" _Akira completely ignored the way her teeth ground against each other in anger and instead smiled at her indulgently. "I believe we went over this. Your father is a human. Your mother was a pixie. Fae blood is stronger than human blood, though the human blood had managed to dull your abilities until now. Now that your pixie self is manifesting, I told you to be prepared for some dramatic changes."

"I didn't think it'd be _this fast. _For God's sake it's only Tuesday!"

"When human blood manages to suppress things, the power has the interesting ability to build up over time. I daresay at this rate you'll become a hazard to your fellow classmates." He canted his head to the side, contemplating. "I should actually arrange for that plane ticket, now that I think of it." Sakura paled. "So soon? It's the second day of school!"

"Which happens to be the perfect time to leave because your _actual _education doesn't begin for another week. If I can get you on a plane by lunch we might actual miss the hazard of incoming students."

"B-but—"

"No buts. Get dressed. I'm taking you to a stylist so we can fix your hair."

"But what about my dad? He's gonna freak if I suddenly hopped on a plane to England."

"Ireland. And actually he's quite ecstatic. We informed him of your departure last night. He was _so _proud that his little girl got to study abroad thanks to her outstanding GPA. And on a scholarship, too. He'll be calling you soon, I should think."

"And if _I _don't want to go?"

"I'd call you a liar," he said shortly, gesturing to the many fantasy books that lined her bookshelf. "Despite how fast this is happening, you're adjusting to it like a fish to water. Which means that some part of you _wants _to go."

"And what if I _still didn't _want to go?"

"You have no choice."

"Are you admitting to abduction?"

"We prefer the term _spirited away, _but if you insist on such crude terminology, then yes."

Sakura groaned, stuffing her face into a nearby pillow. How impossibly frustrating. Yes, she had always fantasized about something like this happening. Yes, she had always that wanted that something to happen. It always looked fantastic from her imaginations point of view. Beautiful creatures, handsome men, magic, sorcery; it was irresistible. But her imagination hadn't factored in that that life would require abandoning the old one. And now that it was happening, Sakura was seeing the horrible errors in her ways. She was being forcibly uprooted by a sarcastic goat demon. Looking up abruptly, she narrowed her now very green eyes at the demon in front of her. "Tell me again why we can't tell my _blood father _the truth." Akira smiled, squinting his violet eyes. "Because he's human and if he doesn't know then he doesn't need to."

Sakura rolled her eyes. To think her dad had married a pixie without realizing it. How terribly humorous. Akira clapped his hands together, grinning. "As much as I think you look stunning in red boxer shorts and a Whinny-the-Poo t-shirt, mismatched hair and all, you really should get dressed so we can be on our merry way."

She glared before chucking the pillow at him. He caught it and threw it back at her, laughing as he hit his mark (unlike her) and exited the room. Tossing the impromptu weaponry from her face, she stared at the closed door for a moment, and then heaved a sigh. Fighting Akira was like trying to scale a wall of glass. He was infuriating in a childish sort of way. It irked her that he was as old as her deceased great-grandfather so he had the upper hand in experience, but then having a witty streak that left her speechless time and time again.

Sighing in aggravation, she took one more look at the absolute nightmare her reflection made and then ripped open her closest door. Finding a pair of dark jean shorts and a tight fitted black long-sleeved shirt, she shucked her sleeping clothes and pulled them on. Stuffing her hair into a _very _messy bun, she tugged a forest green beanie over it so not a hair showed and toed her feet into some sandals. "Repunzel, Repunzel let down your hair…" she sang sardonically. Grabbing her purse she slung the long strap across her body to let it hang on her hip and then opened the door. Akira was casually leaning against the wall, one hand stuffed into his cargo pants pockets, and the other clicking merrily away at his phone. He looked up to her then, his horns catching the hall light. "You ready?"

"Yeah, but I've never heard of a hair salon open this early. Do any of them open at six?"

"Some," he replied cryptically, a smile tilting the corners of his mouth. She ignored that smile with a determined sense of will. Grabbing an energy drink from the fridge as well as bus fare from the counter, they were off. They only had to walk for about six minutes to the nearest bus stop, predawn light casting the sky into various shades of blue and grey. When the bus came, they sat somewhere in the middle, artfully avoiding a woman with a crying child and a group of homeless men in the back. On the way to the city square, Akira ran down a quickly compiled to-do list and the battle plan for the day. Sakura was shocked to find that he was perfectly serious when he told her he'd have her on a plane by lunch, and looking at his plan, she found that he was right. "Okay, so once we fix your hair, I'm dropping you off at your house so you can pack. Get your clothing and little else, the school provides quite efficiently. _Do not _forget your ring. I'll get the plane ticket and arrange for your arrival at Ashford. I'll find a guide too, seeing as how I won't be staying and you'll need to know the essentials before I throw you to the wolves. After that we'll go to your school and get all that annoying transfer paperwork out of the way. You'll say a quick goodbye to your friends, we'll eat, and then head to the airport. And viola, successful transfer to your new school."

"How often do you do this?"

"Way, way too often."

"Oh. Do you like it?"

"Sometimes. But mostly not at all." Sakura didn't know what to say to that so she changed topics. "So…this school. You called it Ashford, right?"

_"__You'll be attending a private school by the name of Ashford," Muko intoned slowly, very aware of the girl clearly in shock. "It's in Ireland."_

"Ashford Castle, yes."

"Castle?" She repeated, shaking herself out of reverie. He gave her a pointed look. "Honestly? With everything that's happened and you _didn't _expect a castle?"

She wrinkled her nose at him and then fished around in her purse for her smart phone. Pulling up a webpage, she googled Ashford Castle and began reading. She raised her eyebrow after the first sentence. "A hotel?"

Akira gave her a mildly affronted look as the bus rattled to a stop. They stood and tromped down the aisle, exiting onto the pavement and the cool morning air, wisps of pink and gold streaking across the sky. "That _is _what it's disguised as. You can't very well have a castle lying around without _some _dimwit wanting the rights to it."

"Who owns it, then? Because its saying right here that it's a member of the _Leading Hotels of the World._"

"It is, well, sorta. We got a few resourceful and convincing emissaries in that business, but each school is headed by a figurehead; usually someone who has rights to the land or some connection to the property. As for your _hotel _comment, most of the schools are disguised as hotels so we have enough rooms to fit the massive influx of students."

"There are more schools like this?"

"As much as I'd like to see someone try, I don't think cramming the entire population of supernatural descent into one measly castle would work."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement. "So where are the others?"

"There's one in England, naturally, Greece, Russia, France, Ireland, and one in Hawaii too."

"Hawaii must be nice," Sakura mumbled, still absently reading up on the castle/hotel." Akira smiled devilishly. "It's inside the volcano." He laughed when Sakura turned to him with wide eyes, running a little ways ahead of her to the glass door of a shop. Sakura turned to the dark window panes dubiously, noticing the unlit open signs and abandonment of the shop. "Akira. Akira it's closed."

"I'm a good ninety-eight years your senior and you tell me that's it's closed." Sakura shrugged. "Maybe the old age has addled your brain."

"Careful with that tongue, pixie. I _am _a demon."

"A goat demon."

"_Ram. _I am a _ram _demon." Sakura just smiled sweetly at him. Scowling, he brandished a regular looking silver key. Her eyes lit with understanding. "You own the place."

"Nope." The newfound understanding disappeared and then quickly morphed to irritation when she realized he was enjoying screwing with her. Grinning he stuck the key into the lock and twisted it this way and that. With a final unnecessary jiggle, the bolt turned and he opened the door with a flourish. Sakura gaped.

From the outside of the shop, it looked fairly normal. Just another one of those shops that were grouped into a quad that you could rent the space out for. Large glass paints covered the entire outer wall with a glass door in the center, black window panes dividing the glass into long rectangles. The interior had black and white checkered floor, an entry desk to the immediate left of the door, and then a long isle of hair-stylist chairs and their tools. Stands of hair care product lined the other wall with their colorful containers. The lights were off and in the early morning light it was very difficult to see anything beyond the gloom.

But when Akira opened the door, it opened to a completely different scene. A deep black floor expanded outward and away, interrupted only by the gleaming steel stylist chairs and other furniture. It was much larger than the shop she had walked up to, but what was more surprising was the bustle that was going on inside the shop. Demons and otherworldly creatures alike filled the space, small winged creatures buzzing through the air as their carried different tools about the room. Baffled, she tilted her body to one side to see the other panes of glass which were still portraying the closed, normal, and very human shop. Akira grinned down at her, swinging the key from his finger. "Neat trick, huh."

"Holy hell," she responded, continually looking to the world directly in front of her, and then the world just outside of her vision. Finally her eyes landed on the key. "How'd you do that?"

"Secret." And with that he grabbed the back of her shirt and dragged her inside and up to a richly stained mahogany desk and a stunningly beautiful desk clerk. Her bright blue hair was twisted into a stylishly messy bun to one side of her head, neon yellow feathers dangled down from the knot. She gave a cheeky smile and chirped at them happily, ruffling her small, canary yellow wings behind her. Sakura found it incredibly difficult not to stare.

"We need some help," Akira said smiling, jerking a thumb in Sakura's direction. She scowled at him, ripping her eyes from some kind of container that was different color every time she looked at it. "You make me sound like a train wreck." Without a word, he ripped off her beanie. Her bi-colored hair tumbled down, drawing the stares from many of the occupants as well as a loud guffaw from a man in the waiting area. The woman behind the desk looked at her with a gleam that wasn't there before. "Introducing a changeling, are we?"

"Close but not quite. More like one of the Lost." Sympathy crowded the woman's demeanor next. "Oh you poor thing," she cooed. "You must be so confused."

"Can't imagine what you're talking about," she mumbled sarcastically, watching a small creature with dragonfly wings zip past her. She would have been tempted to call it a pixie…except that apparently pixies weren't actually that small. She heard a laugh again, but when she turned, she found no culprits. Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, she turned back to the desk clerk who was busy writing something down in a book. Pointing with one manicured nail she indicated the waiting room. "You can wait there. It'll only be another few minutes before one of our hairdressers is ready for you."

"Thanks," she replied, stalking over to the waiting area with Akira at her heels. The waiting area was situated so it was right next to the glass wall. Two black triple-seated couches lay on either side of an oval shaped coffee table, and just like in regular hair salons, magazines littered the surface. She thought it was almost painfully hilarious at the parallels this world ran to the one she had spent sixteen years of her life in. But before she could reach for one of magazines, the cover sporting a ridiculously beautiful woman with an elegant set of horns curving gracefully upwards, Akira let out a laugh and stalked toward the only other occupant in the waiting area who stood in order to greet him.

He was a huge man, by any races standards. Her eyes travelled up a length of sinew and muscle, rippling and bulging no matter which he moved. By the time she finally reached a pair of blazing yellow eyes, she had come to the distant conclusion that he must _at least _be seven feet. He absolutely towered over her small five-foot-six just barely above average height. He even dwarfed Akira by a good head and a half.

"Kisame," Akira sounded with glee, coming to give what Sakura deemed a 'bro-hug' involved with much back-slapping and fist-bumping. It took her a while to understand that the two were what appeared to be good friends because, believe it or not, she was still coming to terms with the fact that he was blue. His skin tone reflected that of an ocean, and as her eyes traversed his appearance, she found that his hair also mimicked that theme in color. His grin drew her eyes next, pearly white teeth bared in wicked points. All in all, he strangely reminded her of a shark. A muscled, burly, _huge _shark, but a shark nonetheless.

"Sakura," Akira called gamely. "Sakura this is an old friend of mine from our schooling days, Kisame. Kisame, this is a newly discovered pixie that I'm situating into the Underworld, Sakura."

Kisame extended a massive hand towards her and she awkwardly shook it, very aware of how her fingers positively disappeared in his grip. He smiled at her. "Nice hair." Flushing crimson in embarrassment, she bundled up the monstrosity and shoved it back beneath her beanie. "It just _happened,_" she mumbled grumpily. He chuckled in response, sitting down and gesturing that they should do the same. "Most things in our world do. How long have you known about all this?"

"Yesterday morning," she answered glumly. "Is it custom for you guys to kidnap?"

"Spirit away," Kisame and Akira answered at the same time, then laughed. Sakura was appalled at the apparent ease in which they took her abduction. But before she could get a word in edgewise, Kisame was back to the questions. "So, I heard you talking over there," he flicked his head towards the desk. "Heard you were one of the Lost?"

"Yeah," Akira sighed. Sakura turned her attention to the source of her recent woe. "What exactly is a Lost?"

"The Lost Ones are any people of the Underworld who don't know what they are, or lived most of their lives not knowing, which is why they fly under our radar." Kisame answered. "This usually happens between interracial marriage with humans, but even then it's kinda rare. Whichever parent that was part of the Underworld would be obligated tell the child about their birthright, let them know before the seal on their abilities wore off."

"Seal?"

"Human blood," Akira interjected, then scowled. "Despite not having magic, they have an unerring ability to contain it."

Kisame shrugged. "Don't I know? My wife was one of the Lost too. I was there when she changed and had a freak out of epic proportions. So which parent was human?"

Sakura was stunned at the abrupt topic change but answered nonetheless. "My dad."

"And your mom?"

"Died giving birth to me."

"Well," Kisame said shortly. "There you have it. So your mom was a pixie too, huh?"

"I guess," Sakura shrugged. "And speaking of which, is any of the folklore right?"

"What do you mean?" Akira asked, confused. Sakura chewed her lip for a moment before launching into what her furious investigations the night before had drudged up. When she was finished, the two men were near tears in way of their laughter. "What?" she cried indignantly. "Oh!" Kisame guffawed. "Is—is that what th—they really think?!"

"Humans!" Akira shouted in glee. "What's so funny?" Sakura growled as they continued to laugh. By the time they had calmed down, she was nearly steaming. Kisame reached out a pacifying hand towards her, eyes still crinkled with mirth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," He laughed. "It was just really funny, is all."

"But _why?"_

"Just—" Akira stopped and shook his head before continuing. "It's just that humans have _really _screwed with their perceptions of history if they think pixies are little wingless creatures about the size of my hand."

"Then _what _is the truth?"

"Pixies," Kisame huffed, regaining air he had lost. "Are one of the most exotic races among the fae besides fairies and demons. Mostly for their strangely colored hair," he gestured to her head. "And varied abilities. But also for their intellect. Pixies have a reputation of their ability to keep secrets and cunning in gaining information. If a pixie offers you information, _never _refuse. They could have a library of ancient knowledge stuffed inside their brains."

"And fairies and demons don't?" Akira shook his head. "Fairies, for all their beauty and magical prowess aren't exactly brilliant. They're vain and easily tricked and usually the ones that end up being kept as pets or glorified captives. Oh they have magic, and some of them can even see the future, but they rarely use their gifts—don't really have the will to. Maybe that's a good thing."

"Demons," Kisame jumped in. "Definitely have knowledge—who wouldn't after living for so damn long?—but they don't have the curiosity to learn like pixies do. They just kind of happen across knowledge as the years go on. And their magic is usually limited to a certain element or theme, if not manifesting as just raw energy. Pixies are pretty much wild cards. You never really know what one is capable of."

"It's like checks and balances," Akira added. "Pixies and fairies don't have the raw power of demons, demons and fairies don't have the well of knowledge or intellect of pixies, and demons and pixies don't have the magical abilities of fairies. It all balances out."

"But," Sakura interrupted. "That can't be all there is to the Underworld, just those three races?" Kisame grinned. "Of course not, those are just the ones that are the most well known. A starting point, if you will. I myself am not any of them."

"Really? Then what are you?" Sakura had honestly pegged him as a demon, what with his features and all. He gave her a mocking smile. "Before I tell you, I'm going to introduce you to some proper Underworld etiquette, yes?" Suddenly worried if she had offended him, she nodded her head. "Asking someone what they are, race of fae or otherwise, is a like the social equivalent of asking someone whether or not they're a virgin."

Sakura's mouth _gaped. _

"And if anyone does ask you about your virginity," Akira said quickly, a serious light in his eyes. "_Don't ever answer them. _Humans may screw up some things, but the stories of strange creatures being attracted to virginal maidens is true. You might find yourself kidnapped before you know what's happening."

"Also never let someone get their hands on your blood or hair," Kisame grimaced. "They could curse you." Sakura began to silently wonder if she was going to survive. They apparently saw the absolute dread that covered her face because they immediately set to soothing her fears. "Chill kid," Kisame grinned. "They teach you all about it in school."

"And while you're being transferred you'll have someone who knows about all this crap to steer you clear of it." Akira added, beaming cheerfully at her. Kisame chuckled at her expression before jumping dizzily to her previous question without grace or prompt. "I'm a race of Anima—shifters that are tied to a specific animal and can readily change between the two forms. Though, as you can see," he gestured to his overall appearance. "Some things don't quite make the full shift. Creatures in the Underworld can't fully disguise themselves as humans without the aid of a glamour."

"So…you're an Anima?"

"Care to hazard a guess?" He joked, grinning. Obviously, he knew that his animal was painfully forthright. "Shark," she deadpanned in response, and then suddenly had the distinct urge to ask him to change. But, seeing as there wasn't any large bodies of water, that might not be a very good idea. "By the way," Akira said distantly, turning his attention to the blue man. "What are you even doing here? I thought you'd be on patrol with Itachi."

"Ah. The missus needed a haircut and I volunteered to come. I'm off duty anyways."

"Are you a kind of police or something?" Sakura interjected. Kisame canted his head to one side in thought. "Not really police in the human sense of the word. More like a member of a specialized group. We go after the psychos trying to use human sacrifice because, as we mentioned before, human blood is a powerful cage if used correctly. You could say we're kind of like the FBI or something."

"There are a lot of sects and divisions that help prevent catastrophe," Akira added. "Kisame is part of one called Akatsuki. And like he mentioned, they go after the crazies."

"Well your doing a good job," Sakura intoned dryly before she continued. "What other divisions are there?"

"Well," he rubbed his chin. "I'll give you the basics 'cause going further makes even _my _head spin. Too many damn groups an' all. But we've got the Weavers which is our form of damage control. They clean up the mess and set up illusions so it looked like nothing ever really happened. And then we have Arbitrators, which really are like local police, Hounds, which is my division. We usually handle the dangerous stuff—Akatsuki especially because each of our members has a distinct specialty. Umm…Seekers, which insert themselves into human life and spy for changelings or the Lost, possibly other Underworlders on the run—that's Akira here. Where'd he find you anyway?" here he turned to Akira. "Last I heard you were situated at a museum in France."

"They transferred me here to work at a high school. You know how much they throw us around."

"Huh. Last one I can think of are the Ushers. They're the ones that familiarize the culture gap between the human world and the Underworld and are mostly assigned to people like you. You know, to introduce you to our ways of life and then the other way around on rare occasion. Anyways I think I've covered them all without going into individual groups our bounty hunters. That's the basic run down of the people that go out and fix crap."

"And we all do a painfully fine job," A new voice entered their small circle of conversation, lilting and honeyed. Sakura turned her head to the newcomer and had to blink a couple of times. The woman before her was tall, perhaps reaching an abnormal height of six foot, at least for a woman. Her long sapphire hair was cut in layers so that it shimmered like a silk curtain over her shoulders and down to the small of her back. Delicately pointed ears peeked up from the hair, strands coming in front of them to frame her striking facial features. High cheekbones, an exotic tilt to her wide eyes, and full lips resting just above a sharp jaw. Liquid mercury irises peered at her through a curtain of thick, royal blue lashes, shimmering in the lighting and casting an ethereal feel about her. To top it all off, her skin seemed to hold the light of thousands of glimmering diamonds, dancing in the light like glitter. She was dressed in a simple tunic the purple-blue color of the night sky just after dusk, the v-cut neckline dipping low and cross-stitched at the apex for style. She wore soft black leather pants that clung to her hips attractively and ran down her slender legs before being interrupted by a pair of boots. The black lace-ups had a small heel to them, lending her and air of sophistication and wildness all at the same time.

She smiled kindly at Sakura. "Well aren't you pretty." Sakura nearly laughed out loud at the wrongness of that statement. Not that she wasn't pretty, but that the woman seemed to disregard her own unreal beauty at the drop of a hat startled her. Kisame stood to greet the newcomer, stepping towards her and planting a kiss on her lips. Sakura blinked in surprise at the action, strangely feeling awkward. "Sakura, this is my wife, Akemi. Akemi, this is Sakura, she's one of the Lost."

A new understanding filled those quicksilver eyes, and a broad grin stretched her face, showing off a rather sharp set of pearly whites. "I know what that feels like," she continued, her voice seeming to lull Sakura into a kind of limbo. Still smiling, she quite bluntly stated her query. "What are you?"

Now, given that Kisame had just explained the social equivalence of such a question, it was no wonder that Sakura suddenly translated that as 'Are you a virgin' and quite suddenly blushed to the roots of her hair. "Akemi," Kisame silently reprimanded. She smacked his shoulder playfully. "Since when do any of the Lost have any sense of social grace, hmm?"

"Uh—pixie," Sakura stuttered, regaining some of her composure. "I'm a pixie." Extending her hand, she was extremely grateful that woman readily took it in her own, giving it a firm but friendly shake. "Pixie, huh? Not a bad thing to change to. I'm a siren."

_That explains the strange lull to her voice, _Sakura thought darkly, but smiled nonetheless. The siren gave her another dazzling smile. "Well, as much as I'd like to stay and chat with someone who understands my frustration, I unfortunately have work to do." Kisame looked appalled. "I thought you said you took your vacation days."

"I did. Some idiot managed to get himself as well as fourteen humans hexed into a space between dimensions, a limbo if you will. They don't have anyone proficient enough on staff to deal with it. The only other Weaver that was up for it was on maternity leave. Pregnancies trump vacations." Kisame gave a groan in despair, taking the bags from her hands in one of his own, and wrapping the other about her waist. He gave a quick nod in goodbye, and then the blue man saw them both out the door and onto the street. As they left, Sakura noticed an aerial view of an open lotus stitched into the fabric between Akemi's shoulder blades, the silvery thread shimmering. Akira noticed her gaze and nodded his head at the retreating couple. "The Hoshigaki clan symbol is the lotus flower. Kisame complains about it regularly." Sakura nodded in acceptance of the explanation before directing her query on another path. "She was a Weaver?"

"Yeah. Seems almost funny, with him being a Hound. He makes the messes and she cleans them."

"They must see each other often at work then." Akira snorted. "More than anywhere honestly. We've got a suspicion that they get kicks out of seeing each other in uniform."

"We?"

"I'm not the only Seeker in the world, you know." Huh. Well that was a strange thought. It seemed that even though she was regularly having strange creatures and happenings shoved in her face her brain was still coming to terms with the fact that her mother was a pixie. The proverbial train of thought had _not _left the station, and in fact was still waiting for the passengers of realization to board. Maybe add a bit of acceptance into the coal furnace to get the hunk of metal moving properly.

Expressions about trains aside, Sakura was brought out her odd thought pattern when a kind woman with long black hair approached her and asked if she was ready for her haircut. Sakura had yet to look at any of the magazines in order to gauge what kind of fashions the Underworld deemed satisfactory, but she nodded her head anyways. Besides, she doubted that having her hair suddenly change color half-way through would be welcomed kindly, fashion statement or otherwise.

Despite the obvious abnormality of the hair salon (or perhaps now that she knew who and what she was this should now be normal?) the process was much the same. The stylist attempted light conversation, not at all surprised when Sakura's beanie was removed, simply stating that she had seen much, _much _worse, and then continued to usher her into one of those chairs so the woman could wash her hair. The stylist introduced her as Mei as her fingers patiently washed her hair, untangling snarls and treating it with shampoo and conditioner that smelt strongly of pomegranates. When that was finished the hair was lightly dried and Sakura found herself sitting in a comfy fake lather chair, a smock tied around her neck and her water darkened hair hanging in a sheet behind her. She stared a moment at the magenta strands and thought it oddly suited her skin tone.

All thoughts of dying it brown promptly flew out the window.

Feeling a sense of daring that she couldn't be bothered to know of its origin, she asked the stylist to cut her hair short and adhere to any fashions that seemed popular, within reason of course. Realistically, this was a very foolish maneuver. The term 'within reason' varies from person to person and she had just given the instruction to a woman who daily deals with horns and other manifestations. Furthermore, she had no idea what the styles of the Underworld would yield and for all she knew she could have just ordered her head to be shaved and then magically tattooed.

By some miracle, the stylist understood her perfectly and began to snip away massive chunks of hair until only pink remained. Sakura mourned the loss of length, but then imagined a world with minimal tangles with some degree of excitement. With a flurry of scissors and not a few of the flying creatures handing the stylist various tools, Sakura's hair was cut to a length just above her shoulders and just below her jaw, layered, and poofed with some kind of magic mouse to make it light and fluffy. Somehow, the woman had cut her bangs so that no matter which way she parted her hair, the fell in an artfully messy way across her forehead with longer strands left to frame her face. Still, all she had to do was move a few strands of hair this way and that, and suddenly her forehead was exposed. Mei smiled. "For the dances," she murmured. "Not a lot of fun if no one can see your crown."

Sakura had no idea what she meant, but she pretended she did. She was still too entranced by the change her hair had gone through, quite literally overnight. Blown dry, her hair was an even lighter pink, bordering on a sickening pastel of baby pink if not for the silvery gleam that it had to it. It made her eyes seem impossibly green and wide, her pink lashes catching light like glitter. Reaching her hand up she rubbed a strand between her fingers, noticing with equal amounts of wariness and glee that it was much softer than it was before.

She narrowed her eyes at her reflection. Was it just her…or had she somehow gotten…prettier. Her skin seemed to positively _glow _with some kind of power, and her eyes had a kind of glimmer that she'd never seen before in them. Her cheeks seemed to be permanently suffused with color, and her lips somehow had the appearance of being flushed, like she had been biting on them. How strange…

Maybe it was the shop lighting. Mei smiled behind her. "I really do love working with pixies."

Thanking Mei, she hopped out of the chair and towards Akira, who had been alternating from staring at magazines and texting. When he looked up, he did a double take and stared. "Wow," he grinned. "You look really good with short hair."

"Thanks," Sakura was mildly disturbed that she felt bashful in front of the person that, for all intents and purposes, was forcefully extirpating her from the life she known for sixteen years. That thought abruptly sobered her. Well, and the fact that Akira opened his mouth. "Sweet. I've already purchased your plane ticket so you should go home and pack. I've still got stuff to take care of, specifically getting you an Usher."

She hated that he was smiling as he said this. Rolling her eyes she followed after him only to have her nose bump pain fully into his back. Whirling, he faced her with a thoughtful expression. "Do you have your ring?"

"Ring?" Sakura furrowed her brows for a moment before she remembered.

_"__What's this?" Sakura asked, taking the box from Muko. It was rather small, square and made of simple oak wood. Although the wood was varnished and not poorly furnished, the box didn't exactly scream quality. It actually strangely reminded her of those little prepackaged trinkets that came in the mail, usually wrapped extravagantly to make it seem cooler than it actually was. Still Muko looked at her seriously enough that she refrained from allowing these thoughts appear on her face. "That," he started gravelly, his voice hoarse with age. "Is what we call a glamour ring." _

_Sakura lifted the lid to reveal a small ring sitting innocently between the cushioning that most ring-boxes come in. Taking it out, she played with it, testing its weight. It was oddly heavy, meaning that it was made out of pure forms of metal, and was strangely uncomfortable. Sakura felt as if the longer it stayed in her hands, the heavier it weighed. It was like it was sucking something out of her. Distinctly uncomfortable, she placed it back inside of its box, rubbing her hands together as if to rid them of the chill of the metal. Muko watched her carefully._

_"__The rings are mostly made from steel, but almost thirty percent of it is pure, unrefined iron." Sakura's head snapped up. "I thought that iron was supposed to be dangerous to the fae."_

_"__It is," Muko allowed cryptically, eyes glancing down to the box. "You remember what I said about human blood, don't you? How it could be used to suppress magic?" Sakura nodded her head. Muko didn't continue after that, only giving her a long, hard stare. The color drained from her face as she looked down at the ring box. "Human blood can be used in many ways," Muko continued. "Normally, the iron would singe the fae's skin—a poison if you will. Human blood acts as a buffer as well as a catalyst, allowing for the iron to mix with its own properties and detain any magical outputs. As long as you wear this ring, no human will be able to see your true features, and consequently, your abilities will be contained."_

_"__Contained?"_

_"__You won't be able to use magic while wearing the ring, or at least some forms of it. We've had some nasty experiences in the past involving adolescent sorcerers and disappearing people."_

"No," Sakura answered, coming out of her memories in order to answer Akira. "No it's still on my desk." _And good riddance, _She thought_. I don't want that thing anywhere near me if I can help it. _The ring had a strange coldness to it, like it was poisoning you as long as you were touching it. She hadn't been able to relieve the chill of it for hours after first receiving it. Akira gave her an exasperated look. "I know I can't blame you," he started. "Hell none of us like wearing the things. Sometimes I wonder why I became a Seeker since I wear them for fourteen ours out of the day, but you can't just _not _wear it. You're changing, Sakura. And humans won't like those changes. You can do away with it once we get you to the school but once you finish packing, I'm going to have to ask you to wear it until you reach your new life in Irland." Sullenly, she nodded her head. Sighing he put his arms around her. "We can't take human transportation now that the humans are up and about and you don't have your ring. Put your arms around me and hold tight. I'm going to teleport us back to your place."

Nodding her head against his chest, she did as he was told. She felt a peculiar pulling sensation somewhere behind her naval before the world spun in blur of color and hazy scenes before abruptly coming back to focus again. Sakura stumbled a bit and had the sickening feeling of nausea for a moment before it stopped. Akira stepped back and poked her in the forehead "Pack," he said, and then with a pop disappeared once again. She jumped a little and then looked around.

He had brought her directly to her room, her pajamas still laying in a haphazard mess across the floor and the box that held her ring was still sitting innocently on the tabletop before her vanity. Her bookshelf and bed were the same sights she had walked into for the past four years, and the small lamp that lit her bedside table was being overcrowded with half-drank plastic water bottles. Sighing, she sat on her bed and collapsed backwards, allowing everything that had just happened to her sink in.

On Sunday she was an ordinary girl preparing for the first day of her sophomore year in high school. On Monday she had seen a demon, was taken to his house, drugged, and told by a wrinkled old man named Muko that she was a pixie. Today, she was being shuffled around to accommodate certain physical changes, getting a crash-course on Underworld life styles, and kissing her life goodbye. By tomorrow, she would be attending, and living, at Ashford Castle Academy for the Gifted. Why, then, wasn't she having a melt-down? Even she didn't think that she would be adapting this quickly to such drastic changes.

Looking over to her bookshelf which was very neatly comprised entirely of fantasy books, she wondered if somehow she really did want this. Honestly, the honest to God truth jumped directly to the forefront of her mind. And it was _yes. _It was even a _hell yes. _But it was that immediate answer that made her wonder. _Why _wasn't she more hesitant? _Why _wasn't she more scared, worried even? _Why wasn't she clinging to her old life? _

Sakura laughed. Even in her own mind she was already referring to anything that wasn't Underworld in nature as her 'old life.' What did that say?

She sat up when she heard the jingling of keys and the tell-tell creak of the front door. Jumping up she reached her door and pulled it open, fully intending to greet her father. She could hear him talking to no one in particular, probably on his blue-tooth discussing some meeting or another. With one foot out into the hallway, she stopped. Her eyes unwillingly drifted towards the ring box that sat, still, on her desk. Would her dad be able to notice the difference in her? Would he question why she was suddenly going off to Ireland?

Did she even want him to know?

Mind made up, she snapped open the lid and ripped the ring out of its holdings. Without giving herself much time to contemplate, because thinking would inevitably lead to talking herself out of it, she shoved it onto her lift middle finger. The cold instantly swept through her, icy and frozen as it creeped across her hand and up her arm. It finally settled somewhere in her stomach, like she had just swallowed a big chunk of ice and could feel it through her skin. All the sudden she felt claustrophobic, cramped, like she had just put on a full body jumpsuit three sizes too small. She winced at the feeling, waiting for it to subside, because logically, it would as most things always do. It didn't.

Resigning herself to this fate, she stalked out into the hall to greet her father. She smiled at him when she saw him, although it was a little forced. "Hey, dad."

"Sakura!" His smile was absolutely radiant, beaming at her with all the megawatts in the world. He embraced her into a tight hug, swaying her from side to side before stepping back a ways and grasping her upper arms. "Look at you, little genius," he teased playfully. "All your smarts getting all these fancy schools to beg for you to attend, huh?" _Oh, dad, _she thought behind her plastic grin. _If only you knew it wasn't my brains getting me into this. _

"Are you excited?" He asked, throwing his keys into a dish on the entry table and stalking towards the kitchen. "We should celebrate! What would you like for dinner, I'll cook. Oh, what am I thinking, we'll go out! What's that Italian place you like so much?"

"That's fine, dad. We don't have to go anywhere. I have to pack anyway." Understanding lit his eyes. "Oh that's right! Your plane leaves at three, doesn't it?" She didn't actually know when the plane left. Akira hadn't mentioned any of that to her. "Umm…yeah. But don't you have work?"

"Did you really think I would go to work the day you left for a foreign country?" He snorted. "I looked up the place you'll be staying, you know," he continued, taking off his suit jacket and draping it over the edge of a chair. "Real snazzy place, look," he came up to her and held up his phone, showing the picture of a gothic styled manor, lots of arches and a bell tower off on one side. Rolling hills of grass flowed away from the school grounds to a group of school children dressed in dark green uniforms, the school emblem on their right breast pocket. It was a rather picturesque scene, but it wasn't the right one.

"Blackwater Academy, a private institution with dorms and everything." He continued, oblivious to his daughters dawning understanding. Inwardly, she cackled. They hadn't even told her father where she was actually going. How quaint. "There's a lake too," his meaty finger pointed towards a sliver of dark water at one corner of the screen before scrolling down so she could see various pictures of the same, _wrong, _school. She smiled at him, taking the phone as he walked off towards the fridge. "Have you eaten anything yet?" he questioned, rummaging around the fridge. "No," she mumbled, scrolling through information on the school. It was real, as far as she could tell. She'd have to ask Akira about the cover up and how they pulled it off. She knew parents called their children as much as they could, usually through the school since most banned electronics. It wouldn't really work if he called this Blackwater place for one Sakura Haruno only for them to tell him that she wasn't really there. She could imagine the mess that would make.

On top of that, though, she was mildly disturbed at how little her dad actually knew. "Dad," she voiced suddenly, quickly overcome with an urge. "Hmm?" he answered. "What do you see when you look at me?" He peeked his head up from the fridge and looked at her. Silently, she fingered the cold metal on her finger. "What?"

"What do you see when you look at me?" she said again. He looked confused for a moment before a tender warmth filled his eyes. "I see a _beautiful _young woman who's going to make her mark in the world someday," his smile almost killed her. Grinning he ducked back down into the fridge. "You look a lot like your mother now that you mention it," he called lightly, snagging her attention like a hook. "Really?" she said, approaching the island countertop. "Mm-hm," He pulled orange juice and a dish of assorted fruits that they hadn't quite eaten yet. Sliding it towards her, he scrutinized her carefully. "You have her features mostly, and her figure, but," and here he looked ridiculously proud. "You have _my _hair." He turned then to look back into the fridge, speaking even as his back was turned. "All long and dark. What is it now, waist length?"

Something inside her turned cold, and not just because of the ring. "Yeah dad," she mumbled, throat suddenly very dry. "Somewhere around that area." He appeared again and they both took a seat at the counter. "So," he chirped, picking up a strawberry and picking at its stem. "You excited?"

"A little nervous," she answered truthfully. He shrugged. "That's to be expected I guess. Anything in particular?"

"I—" She hesitated for a moment, torn. On one hand, she wanted desperately to spill the beans and just tell him everything. She was sure that he would still accept her, but that wasn't really the only reason why she shouldn't tell him. Akira once explained to her, yesterday actually, that the human world and the Underworld ran on parallels. They basically were two layers that neatly overlapped each other, but still remained separate. Creatures of the Underworld were mystical and suspect to whim, never really staying still long enough to create something permanent and always craving that something more. Humans on the other hand had a singular line of focus that allowed them to achieve and build, creating a world that easily and properly functioned. The two worlds fed off each other, but never mixed. Humans couldn't handle the unpredictable and law defying ways of magic, and the Underworld couldn't handle straight-lined, headstrong focus of humans. This by no means meant that the two couldn't interact, it just made it easier if both were a little oblivious of the other.

That didn't mean that she couldn't talk to her dad, only that she'd have to be selective about her wording.

Slightly more confident, she began again. "I'm afraid," she admitted carefully. "That if chose this next step in life, then I'd be leaving the other one behind."

"And you don't know if you really want to," he finished for her. She nodded her head. He sighed. "I guess that we all have those moments, but honestly it's just the natural way of things. One stage of life ends and a new one begins."

"But I'll be isolated," she countered. "I won't see any of my friends, I'll be in a new place, I won't see _you—_"

"You'll make more friends," he interrupted casually. "We'll keep in touch. It's not like I'm going to die and for your other reason: what happened to my adventurous daughter? You used to all for climbing trees and running away."

"I still _do, _dad. It's just—just," she trailed off, frustrated. "What happens if I do this and it's too much for me to handle but it's too late for me to turn back?"

Her father stared at her for a moment, thoughtfully chewing on a grape inside of his mouth. "You know," his small dark eyes narrowed even further. "I don't know what that question has to do with your education, but your mother asked me that same exact question."

Sakura lifted her eyes to meet her fathers, gaping. "Really?" He nodded his head. "She did. And I'm going to tell you what I told her. It's simple really."

"What is it?" He smiled reassuringly at her. "The question isn't what you'll be facing if you go, but what you'll have to face if you don't."

Sakura fingered the ring around her finger again, thinking. Could she really bear the cold for that long? Could she really just flat-out refuse to go on a plane and stay here for the rest of her life? Living away from the magic, from the intrigue, not really knowing what she could do or what she could become. It seemed as if she would deny herself a crucial part of her soul, of who she was. It was depressing to think that she would have to live a life where no one knew her true face, because that was the reality of the situation. And magic. How long would she resist the temptation before she caved? Because she knew she would. Oh, she knew she would fall from grace and try. So many things could go wrong if she never learned how to control it. Could she really fight her own wants so fiercely? The answer was no. She couldn't—_wouldn't. _

"Thanks, dad."

"I hope it helped." He smiled at her warmly. "Now," his voice turned lighter at the end, licking some fruit juice off of his thumb. "I do believe you have some packing to do, and I happen to have nothing to do today." Grinning, Sakura stood from her chair. "Let's go hunt for the suitcases then."

XXX

Four and a half hours later it was ten minutes to three and she and her father were racing through the airport, trying to find her gate before it decided to close. It didn't help that due to their size, all they could really see was a massive sea of people and faces, the bodies effectively blocking their vision.

After packing up her closet, her bedspread and sheets, and a few things that she wanted to bring for their sentimental value as well as a few necessities, they headed towards the school so they could check her out of the system. Her friends were sad to see her go and bombarded her with questions at the suddenness of her departure, but she soothed them as best as she could. Her teachers gave her casual farewells as well as many 'good lucks' before sending her off. She promised her friends to keep in touch and send pictures, but she really didn't know how well she would keep that promise. It wouldn't really do to send them something out of scene from Hogwarts.

After getting her out of the schooling system, her dad treated her to lunch in which Akira joined them. She was mildly surprised that they knew each other, but it was cleared up when Akira introduced himself as a spokesperson for the school and also the one who had told her father the good news. It was an odd experience, treating Akira as if she hadn't known him at all throughout lunch. When it ended, he handed her a thick envelope and explained that it held her plane ticket and her admission letter to the school. After that he bid his goodbye but not before sending her a meaningful look and flickered his eyes to the envelope. She got the hint.

The drive to the airport was short and filled with chatter as her and her dad talked, music crooning softly from the stereo. They were actually on time during all this, but what they hadn't accounted for was the fact that the car clock was evidently broken and instead of reading the correct time, it read almost a full twenty minutes earlier. By the time they had by chance stumbled upon the correct time they had yet to go through security and a very short window to do it. It was a miracle that that the person checking their luggage seemed to have been hyped on caffeine because he practically zipped them through security. Still, it took a considerable amount of time to get everything in order. And that brings us up to date, with Sakura and her dad frantically looking for the sign that said 'Gate 07'.

Sakura cried out with triumph when she finally spotted it and they raced towards it, expertly dodging the other rushed passerbys as they double, then triple, checked her ticket numbers. They made it just as the stewardess was closing the gate. "Wait!" They both yelled simultaneously. The woman grinned at them. "Cutting it a bit close, aren't we?"

"Broken clock," Her dad wheezed, hands on his knees and doubled over. Snatching her ticket out of the envelope, she handed it to the woman who looked it over and then smiled. "Go on in, hon."

"Thanks," Sakura grabbed her suitcase and was about to go before her dad caught her in a crushing embrace. Kissing her forehead and cheeks he murmured happy sentences of how proud he was and to be safe before releasing her. He pulled a small box from the inside of his coat and shoved it into her chest, his words slurring over in his haste to get them out and for her to get going.

"ThiswasyourmotherstakecareofitIloveyougo,go,go,_go!_"

"What—dad—how—"

"GO!" She turned and fled down the tunnel, tossing a hurried, "I love you!" behind her as she went. She heard him call at her to be safe and then she was alone, running down the paneled hall, her suitcase rumbling behind her. She felt it shake unsteadily on its wheels, jerking behind her, but she didn't slow down until she saw the tell-tell bump that separated the plane from the collapsible hall. "Oh thank God," she huffed, drawing the attention of a stewardess passing by. The pretty blond raised her eyebrows at the sight Sakura must have made, but all she could think about was how happy she was to have made this flight.

The feeling quickly disappeared as she went down the narrow aisles in the plane. Everyone besides herself was seated, and her appearance had caused quite a commotion. Sakura resisted the urge to twitch, feeling the eyes on her as she lugged her small carry-on suitcase above her head into the compartments overhead. Feeling distinctly ruffled, she plopped down into her assigned seat, one right next to the aisle, and got comfortable. It was nonstop flight after all. After going through the safety procedures they were all instructed to put their seatbelts on and told to expect some jerking as they took off.

Sakura gripped the edges of her seat tightly as the plane climbed higher and higher, relaxing when it leveled out and they were given the okay for the built in movie screens and other electronics barring cellular devices. Content with the knowledge that her headphones would block out pretty much any and all noise, she ripped them from her pocket and placed them in her ears, powering up her mp3 player for a long usage.

After the sounds of Fall Out Boy were firmly and effectively blocking out the noises going on around her, Sakura took to fingering the case that her dad had shoved so quickly into her arms. It was a flat, rectangular case made of rich, lacquered, red cherry wood. On the center of the box rested an intricately carved Celtic tree, Celtic knot designs thinly decorating the borders. The only thing that interrupted the beautiful carving was a line down the center that split the wood in half so that the box could be opened upwards. _Dad said it belonged to mom, _she thought softly, imagining what could possibly be inside. Carefully sliding a cleverly hidden latch disguised as a leaf aside, Sakura lifted the two panels slightly…

…and abruptly clicked them back together again. Lifting her hands to her face, she rubbed her eyes and covered her nose before dropping them to rest lightly on the surface of the box. Shaking her head, she tried to rid them of thoughts and focus on the music playing in her ears, but it was no use. They crowded around her mind like some kind of sick orchestra, drowning everything else it.

_I'm a pixie. I'm a mythical creature, my mom was mythical creature. My mom married a human. My dad married a pixie. I'm a pixie. I have magic, I can do magic, I can _use _magic! And now a freaking goat demon as thrown me onto a plane and I'm going off to _Ireland _of all the places and attending a school that's supposed to be a hotel that's actually a castle. A castle! What kind of classes do they teach mythical creatures? Hell what kind of _electives _are they going to have? What other types of creatures will I find? Will I be the only one of the Lost. Shit this is terrible but damn if it doesn't feel good. Sooo excited and horrified all at once. _

Sitting back into her crappy, uncomfortable third-class chair, Sakura let out a dry chuckle even as building bubbles of excitement banished away the cold of her concealment ring. "Kami, if this doesn't kill me first…"

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

AN: Yeah, I know I'm bending a lot of rules-cultural, mythical, geographical-but I really don't care. This came to me on a whim and I thought it would be a cool idea if not an entertaining one. It will be light hearted and fun, hopefully entertaining. I just want to be able to put all the magic onto paper, if you will. Too many opportunities when your dealing with a world in which magic exists, aka, a world where logic can be studiously ignored. XD

Ruby


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was surprising to her how calmly she had awoken. At least, surprising in the sense that the thing that woke her up was the jolt of the plane as its wheels hit the asphalt track with a screech. As her eyes fluttered open, she imagined the rubber smoke that billowed for a short instance behind those wheels. Inhaling loudly, she tensed her muscles and stretched as far as her cramped spacing would allow, careful to keep her mother's box on her lap. Blinking her eyes to clear some of the haze, she looked around at the other passengers. No one was moving from their seats quite yet, but she could tell that everyone was itching to move again. It was a long flight after all.

Twisting her head, Sakura cracked her neck. The hard part was deciding if she should try to beat the crowds, or wait until it was only a few measly stragglers left. There were issues with both, of course. If she were to attempt to beat the crowd, she would be rushing and probably forget something or unintentionally hurt someone else. The ups to that option was that she'd get to the luggage belt first and wouldn't have to fight in order to secure a place next to the conveyer. If she waited it out, she would be waiting a long time and there was no guarantee that other flights wouldn't make it before she did. Eying the distance from her seat to the exit, she decided to take her chances and beat the crowds.

Unbuckling her seat belt, she gripped her carry-on suitcase tightly in one hand and grasped her box to her chest tightly. Lightly bouncing her legs to get some feeling back into them, she waited for the signal. It came in the form of the captain's voice, allowing them exit and the smiling faces of the stewardesses. Like a bolt of pink lighting, Sakura was off. She weaved delicately through the oncoming bodies and was a few feet from the exit before the bodies crowded her. There were already several people in the collapsible tunnel, speed walking just like she was. She hurried out among them, emerging from the gate and spilling into the airport. It wasn't nearly as fancy or sterile as the one she had left from, and instead had a more homey feel to it. But Sakura didn't really stop to admire the decorations or the wood carvings that someone obviously put some effort into make looking authentic. Instead she made a beeline for the luggage belt.

It was already rotating when she got there and she looked for her suitcase set. It was times like these that she was glad her and her friends had done what they had. Her school (the old, normal human high school. Not the one she had the attendance papers for in her bag at the moment.) regularly took trips across the states for various competitions so travel by air was nothing new to her. But after the first time, her and her group of friends had discovered that having normal looking suitcases sucked. Hard. So, with no small amounts of glee, Sakura and her friend had taken her plain black suitcase set out to the backyard and placed them on top of a plastic tarp. Armed with a nearly broken paintball gun and various paints of neon, they had then proceeded to splatter her suitcases with rainbow.

It was a very good memory. And now, her suitcases were unmistakable. Sakura smiled as she spotted it coming along the conveyer, right next to a bright pink suitcase complete with glitter and a smiling Barbie. Hers still looked better. Hauling it off of the spinning track, she frowned and then scowled a little. Turning exasperated eyes back towards the belt she waited once more. It appeared that her four piece set had been separated during the flight.

Her first piece was the one that was in her hand. It was large, rectangular and reached her hips and sat on rollers with a handle. This one mostly held her clothing with as many shoes as she could fit inside of it. The second piece was also a rectangular case and also had rollers and a handle, but much smaller. This was the one she had used as her carry on. It held the rest of her shoes and other accessories like hats, jewelry, and gloves. On top of the second piece rested the third, which was a small rectangle also, although it rested horizontally rather than vertically like the other two. This held her toiletries but was mostly comprised of hair-care products. She narrowed her eyes at it. She had no idea how much of those products she was going to use now that her hair was so much shorter.

It was the fourth piece of her set that she was missing. And it was in the shape of a duffle bag. Beryl hued eyes scanned the luggage belt once again, noticing the obnoxiously pink suitcase that had been next to her first find. The belt had made its circuit three times now and still no sign of her duffle bag. She gritted her teeth. If it had been thrown into the unclaimed baggage area…

Five minutes later Sakura was beginning to panic. She _really _needed that duffle bag because besides holding the stuff for her bed, which she knew were going to be a bitch to replace because she really liked that set, but between the layers of sheets and bedspread was her laptop. Her beautiful wonderful sleek black laptop that had been with her through thick and thin and _dammit _she had been customizing that thing for _years. _It had all of her photos, her passwords, all of her _customized _social networking sites, her reports from past school assignments that she hadn't had the heart to delete, that stupid document full of dares that her and a couple of friends had come up with for a game, hell it even had her Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for her savings that she'd kept a running balance on.

She. Could. Not. Lose it.

After watching that blasted pink Barbie suitcases circle once more, Sakura began to look around her in some desperate hopes that it was sitting innocuously to the side, or that it had just fallen off of the conveyor belt. No such luck. Spotting a security guard she stalked towards him with long strides only to falter. What on earth was she supposed to say to a _security guard? _He wasn't someone to go to for petty complaints, and she very much doubted he had any idea where one measly duffle bag could be, no matter how utterly obnoxious it looked splattered with paint. Feeling significantly awkward just standing there, she made her way slowly back to the luggage belt.

What on earth was she supposed to do? She'd never lost her luggage during a flight before, and it's not like there was a neon sign that exclaimed '_Lost Luggage HERE!' _with a giant arrow pointing towards an alcove or something. She had no idea who she was supposed to talk to, forget about where she should _look._

Surrounded by natives speaking their tongue—along with that distinct Irish lilt of English—she suddenly wondered if she would even be _able _to ask for help. Sure she had taken English classes, it was required after all, but she was far from fluent and the accents that flowed into her ears distorted the words barely beyond recognition.

So, in lay man's terms, she was screwed.

Stifling a pitiful groan Sakura secured the luggage that she did have, and began the arduous task of asking completely random strangers if they had seen her duffle bag. It was…frustrating and panicking and wearisome all at the same time. Families, important looking people in suits, Irish natives, desk clerks—it didn't matter. One after another Sakura stuttered out half-formed sentences in broken English in hopes of recovering what the airport had apparently eaten. After asking the fifth security officer (she'd given up avoiding them and figured they saw more than most anyways. Turns out most were extremely rude.) she gave up entirely and shuffled her way to a crappy row of waiting seats, figuring that after her hard work, lady luck or destiny or fate or whatever mine as well shower her with good fortune and give her the damn duffle bag.

Turns out her thoughts weren't far from the mark.

"Ma'am?"

Tired eyes glanced up and squinted. Whoever the stranger was, he was very tall and happened to be standing directly in front of a rather bright light. It had an eclipse effect about it, though his features weren't really shadowed. Sharp blue eyes sat above striking cheekbones which blended into smooth cheeks and then into a firm jaw. Thin but smiling lips rested below a straight nose and then her eyes were drawn to his hair because _wow _was it spiky. She had no idea hair could even _do _that and wondered vaguely if it was because of some magical based hair gel. Why, you ask, would her mind instantly jump to magical conclusions? Because beyond the tufts of blond hair and eyes that were just too impossibly blue, he had pointy ears. Like, elf pointy ears. Not overly long, but hell it was still noticeable.

Suddenly becoming aware of how she had just stared for a moment, Sakura stuttered out a random hello and shifted in her seat. He smiled at her in a way that reminded her of her father. "Can I help you with something?" she asked edgily, not wanting to sound rude but quite aware that he was just standing there kind of creepily to be honest. He only smiled in a charming sort of way and held up a black strap. She snapped her eyes downward and let out a sound somewhere between a relieved sigh and a gleeful shout. There in all its glory was her duffle bag, paint splatters and all.

"You have a very striking presence, Miss Haruno." Sakura abruptly cut off her long trail of happy thanks to look up at him. His baritone had surprised her as well as the compliment. "I'm sorry?"

"Your hair," he replied easily, smiling. "And your unique sense of…style." This she _knew _was in referral to her bags and now she had to defend them in some way. "Makes it easier to find them in a place like this," she gestured airily around and then frowned. "Though my fail-proof plan seemed to have failed me this time. Thank you, again, for that."

"It was nothing." Quite suddenly a thought occurred to her, and in the same nanosecond she wondered how quickly she could be kidnapped because for heaven's sake if she realized things _this slow…_

"May I ask how you knew my name?" The man laughed a little and she was struck by how attractive it was. "It appears Akira still has that infuriating habit of leaving his charges in the dark?"

"You know Akira?"

"Unfortunately," he grinned, extending his hand. Sakura reached out to shake it. "Akira and I were part of the same training course for Seekers for a year or so before I took a different route. My name is Minato Namikaze and I, Miss Haruno, am your Usher."

Oh. _Well. _

"Sakura," she replied. "Just Sakura."

"Nice to meet you, then, Sakura."

"Yeah…nice to meet you too…" She trailed off a little unsure of which name to use since she had given her first. "Minato is fine, Sakura. After living in a place like this you get used to giving your first name for everything. Irish are rarely formal."

"Minato it is then!" He smiled at her again, and again she got that weird feeling that he looked surprisingly like a dad. "There is a car waiting for us outside. It'll be a good four hour drive to the castle, so that should give us plenty of time to get some questions out of the way." Like a true gentleman, he waiting for her to stand before taking her suitcase and allowing her to walk before he did. She felt awkward only having a memento from her mother clutched to her chest, but at the stern look he shot her way she knew he wasn't going to let her carry her bags.

He led her out of the airport and to a sleek black car with a driver already in the seat. When her luggage was stored in the trunk, they shuffled into the back seat and got comfortable as the driver started off. The car weaved through the easy traffic and onto a deserted road, a car coming by maybe once every fifteen minutes. Sakura watched the sky gradually darken and marveled at the time difference, noticing that her eyes seemed heavy, but unwilling to close them. Nearly three hours later and a lot of friendly chatting with Minato, she got her reward.

A gasp escaped unwillingly from her lips, but she almost didn't mind the fact that her jaw dropped because there was a sight in front of her that she was dazzled by. "The Gateway," Minato murmured, appreciating the view. "It looks better with the window down."

Sakura took his proffered advice and hurriedly rolled the window down, sticking her head and upper body outside of the car as much as she dared. There, before her, stood a towering wall. But it wasn't made of brick, wood, or metal. In fact, she didn't know _what _it was made of, but it shimmered in the dark with a kaleidoscope of colors. It looked strangely familiar to what bubbles look like after you've blown them out of a wand, swirling with the colors of the rainbow. Now that she made the connection, she thought it looked like a bubble in some ways too. It stretched up and out, creating an absolutely _leviathan _dome that reached far past the clouds in the sky. Flashes of light danced across its surface, moving in abstract symbols that swam and reformed before disappearing and then reappearing yet again. Beyond it, she thought she could see the shadowy figure of a castle. "What is it?" she whispered, her voice lost to the wind whipping past her. "It's a barrier," Minato answered and she whipped her head around to see that he had opened a window in the roof that she had missed before. His hair was pushed back from his face in the wind and a small, content smile rested on his lips. "It allows people of the Underworld to wander in their true forms. As long as you're within its walls the barrier prevents humans from seeing anything other than land and a five star hotel."

It was uncomfortable, but Sakura remained in her position for the full ten minutes it took for them to reach the barrier. She craned her head up and marveled at how she could barely even see it curve into its dome structure from where they were at, knowing that it must be positively massive. Time seemed to slow as they passed through the glowing film. She reached her hand out, watching as it was encased and then blurred from her vision as colors hazed and shifted. And then suddenly the world snapped back into focus and the barrier was behind them, the colors almost neon against the black sky. Turning her head forward, she saw only rolling hills of shadowed green and what looked to be a large structure at the horizon. Ducking her head back into the car, she turned her head to Minato.

"How far is the castle from here?"

"Oh, I'd say about thirty minutes. Speaking of which…" He rummaged around in his coat and pulled a small, rectangular box from the inner pockets. The box was thin and about the length of her hand and perhaps half as wide, dark cherry wood shining under the overhead light that Minato reached to flick on. Setting in his lap he flicked open the lid to reveal a sort of kit. Covering two thirds of the box was a horizontally resting rectangle. It seemed to be made out of some form of stiff parchment and was secured firmly. A thin bar rested beneath that and was black, one end seeming to have worn away. Sakura recognized it as a dry ink block. Beneath that was a single brush, an ivory handle smoothing into soft, waxed bristles. It looked like a Japanese calligraphy set and she wondered what Minato could possibly be doing with it now.

"Ushers," he said, pulling the brush from its confines and rubbing it gently on the worn side of the ink block. Sakura watched, awed, as it suddenly became wet and ink bled into the bristles. "Require a certain amount of talent in the art of seals and spells. This is a spell kit. It allows me to draw the seal or spell here," he pointed to the parchment. "And then transfer them to whatever I need to."

"Wouldn't it be easier to draw the seal directly onto the surface?" she asked, watching him form a complicated set of concentric circles and then paint ridiculously small symbols around and in them. He finished by inking a simple circle around the whole thing and then painting a final, large symbol that looked like an overly stylized 't' in the center. "That's mostly true," he answered distractedly, setting the brush down and putting his palms together above the seal. He grinned at her. "But I doubt you'd like the taste of ink, Sakura."

"What?" Before she could question him further, he placed his hands loosely above the painting. He held them there for a second Sakura wondered if something was supposed to be happening, but as she scooted closer to get a better look, the symbol began to glow. It was a gradual glow, starting first at the very center and bleeding outwards until the entire inking glowed a soft white. Then to her astonishment, Minato lifted his hands and with them, the glowing ink leaving a clean piece of parchment behind. He turned towards her, the spell suspended between his hands like a luminous tattoo. "Open your mouth Sakura."

"What? Why?"

"This spell needs to go somewhere."

"…that things going in my mouth."

"Yes." Subconsciously, Sakura clenched her teeth. Minato gave her a dry look. "This is a spell, Sakura. It allows you to speak and understand languages you've never even heard before. It's our way of breaching the language barrier without having to really learn. Call us lazy but that's how we do things, now please open your mouth."

Swallowing, she opened her mouth slightly. "Wider," he coaxed gently. She did. "Wider. There, perfect. Now stick out your tongue." She hesitated slightly. "I swear it won't hurt, Sakura."

"It's weird knowing that I'm about to have my tongue tattooed by a glowing…thing."

"It's not like it's going to stay," he laughed. "Close your eyes if it helps."

"No," she murmured, eyeing the spell with equal parts curiosity and wariness. "I can do it." She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue as if to verify her claim. Minato didn't even giver a chance to reconsider because suddenly the tips of his fingers were brushing the sides of her face and there was an unfamiliar weight on her tongue. It was warm, and it kind of made her feel like her tongue just grew three sizes bigger and there was a light that made her feel like she just ate a glow stick, but the feeling didn't remain. Almost as quickly as it had come, the weight was gone, her tongue felt like the normal size, and the glow vanished. She rolled the pink muscle around her mouth a few time to see if it still worked right, but she found nothing wrong with it. "Right then," Minato sighed, packing up his kit and sticking back into his jacket. "That's all you'll be needing for now. I'll let you explore the castle and get your bearings and then come see you on Sunday, the day before school starts. You'll be a first year, or under the house of the moon, since Underworld education starts when your sixteen. Until then," he handed her a card, and with a calm, reassuring smile, disappeared. She jumped at the sudden vanishing act, surprised at how silently he went. There was nothing left of him that gave away he was even there to begin with.

Shaking her head, she ran fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it from the wind, and continued to bite and prod at her tongue. She half expected it to suddenly change colors, or at least be numb from whatever magic she had consented to but nothing happened. Settling back into the seat with a huff, she crossed her arms and looked out the window. It was terribly dark outside, the only light being the massive Gateway that they had passed stretching around them in goliath circle. She watched it for a moment before reaching around her side to scratch an itch.

It was then that she became aware of her clothing and just how long she'd been wearing the same outfit. The black shirt seemed limp and dirty, and her jean shorts were scratchy against her thighs. She wrinkled her nose and hoped that the rooms had showers in them. She hated public baths.

The ride to the castle was mostly uneventful, or as uneventful as riding to a school that apparently didn't exist could be. Sakura didn't know quite what to think about the turn her life had suddenly taken, only that it had happened. She wondered if she should suddenly freak out about any of this. Not that she felt she needed to. It was more of a wondering if she _should. _Normal people freaked out about this kind of stuff.

She sighed. She couldn't really fit into that category now, could she?

The car jolted so suddenly that Sakura had to bite her newly magicked tongue so as not to scream. By the time that she had firmly gripped the handle near the car ceiling, the car had stopped all together. All was still for a moment before the driver shifted and opened his door. Sakura followed suite, breathing in the cold night air nervously. It was wet outside. Cold, wet, and misty.

The driver had stopped the car in the middle of the road, dirty cobblestones lining the way in one straight path that seemed to go on forever. Dark trees rose up on either side, fog drifting eerily around their trunks and shadows seeping like ink over the ground. She shivered. It looked like the place that a horror movie would take place. One with ghosts. Sakura _hated _ghosts. "Where are we?"

Her voice sounded too loud, and she didn't like the way that her breath had frozen as it left her lips. She also didn't like the way that the driver didn't answer. He simply popped open the trunk, pulled out her suitcases, and set them on the ground. "Excuse me?" she tried again, a little miffed that he hadn't bothered to answer. "_Excuse _me?" Still no answer. She scowled. "Hey!" The driver got back into the car and her eyebrows shot into her hairline. Was he going to _leave her? _

Unfolding her arms from around herself, she jogged over to his door. "Hey! You can't just—" He wasn't listening. Without any sort of notice, or even a glance in her direction, he slammed the door shut and hit the gas pedal. The car zoomed off, leaving a thin trail of exhaust behind it and a halo of water as it raced through puddles. Sakura gaped after it.

"Did he just…?" _Yes, _she thought incredulously. _Yes, he did. _"Wha—" she spun around, looking at her carelessly tossed luggage on the ground and to the ominous trees on either side of her. Pink hair flew as her head whipped toward the road. "What am I…What the _hell _am I supposed to do?!" He had just left her. In the middle of a freaking _forest _with _no idea _on how to get to the castle. There could be bears out here for all she knew, that is, if Ireland had bears?

She shivered, and not just from the cold. Tugging the sleeves of her shirt over the palms of her hands, she folded here arms across her chest and walked to her pile of luggage. She stared at it for a moment before slinging the duffle bag strap over her shoulder and extending the handles on her roller suitcases. She might as well be ready to move as long as she was stuck here. In fact, she might as well just move in the direction that the car had gone in. Mr. Dipshit had to be going somewhere and she very much doubted that it would be further into the forest. Nodding her head, she turned and started walking.

Only to freeze because the road that the car had _just driven down _had _disappeared. _Trees towered upwards, greenery growing so thickly that it was a virtual wall in front of her in the place of the dirty, bumpy road she had just been walking on. She looked down to her feet and realized with some amounts of fear that they were standing on leaf-strewn dirt. She lifted her foot just to make sure everything was real. "Wha…what just happened?" No one answered her soft question.

Turning her head this way and that, she found that everything looked the same. Every tree seemed to be a carbon copy of the next, same position of branches and placed in a complete circle around her. But just out of the corner of her eyes, she swore she could see their branches waving. Swallowing thickly, she gripped the handle of her suitcase and took an uncertain step forward. Nothing happened. Bolder, she wandered in between two of the freakishly identical trees and looked beyond. It was still dark, it was still creepy, and it was still a forest, but all the trees looked different and there didn't seem to be any sort of man eating creature nearby. Actually, she thought, there wasn't any sort of animal at all. The forest was dead, not a sound to be heard. Sakura winced, trying not to think about all the horror movies she's watched.

Lifting her suitcases over the knobby roots of the trees, she took one last look at the near perfect circle the trees made and started walking. Now, don't get her wrong, she thought she was being an idiot at the moment. Since when was it smart to start waltzing around a dark, unfamiliar place that gave you the creeps? I _wasn't _and every pseudo survival lessons she'd ever had were running through her head and telling her to _stay put. _But she didn't want to. Why? Because every video game she'd ever played that was of the first-person shooter type was telling her that staying still in a clearing was easy pickings for the beginners.

She still thought it was stupid, though. It's just that something just didn't sit right with not moving. So she steeled her slipping nerves and trekked onwards, all the while mentally cursing the driver and jumping at every snapped twig her clumsy footing created. Her eyes darted around constantly, expecting some horrible monster to pop out at any second, but nothing ever did. In fact, nothing ever happened and ten minutes in she had lost her nervousness.

She crashed through the underbrush without a care in the world and openly (loudly) cursed every person her irrational mind deemed fit of accusing. "Stupid trees, stupid twigs, stupid drivers—" Her suitcase wheel snagged on a wayward root and jolted her backwards. "_Stupid _suitcases! Of _course _dad would marry a mythical creature without knowing it. Just like him to be like…like…that! And Akira! Ooh, if he were here right now I'd force him to carry my bags like an underpaid hotel lackey and he'd have to carry me and I'd complain the entire way. I'd scream in his ear just to piss him o—" She never finished her tirade though because there was an uproarious crashing in the brush and a black form tackled her to the ground. She screamed as loud as she could, trying to thrash out at whatever attacked her but couldn't because her bags were restraining her hands. Her mind went into panic and refused to give any order besides _flee _but she couldn't because she was stuck. The thing was pinning her down, nails biting into the flesh of her arms and she could feel its hot breath on her face. It smelled like…mint?

Sakura didn't fully stop screaming until she realized she wasn't the only one. They slowly broke off together, panting, hearts beating thunderously as sensory information was slowly sent to the brain. Her eyes started to work again and she realized that the black shadow was actually a girl. A girl with wide, moonlit eyes that were clouded over with terror and slowly lacing with reason. Hair of ink spilled around her and onto the dirty ground beneath them, cupping beautiful features and flushed cheeks. Lush lashes fanned above her wide eyes and were so long that Sakura imagined that her eyes were closed, they would brush her cheeks. But what drew her eyes the most were the girls eyes. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light, but now that the adrenaline was receding she found that her eyes spoke truth. The girl had no pupils. Only an eerie color of lavender so pale that it almost seemed white, the lightest of blue hinting at the very edges of the irises. They looked like the moon and if she looked hard enough, she wondered if she would see the cratered surface of the enchanting orb in the sky.

On the other hand, the girl was as equally surprised to see a girl underneath her. She had been running blindly, spooked by her surroundings and afraid that something was going to eat her. She had been looking over her shoulder when she had suddenly rammed into something solid. A solid something that gave out an unearthly shriek upon impact. She didn't know what to do and just gripped whatever flesh she could in hopes that if she managed to keep it still, it wouldn't attack. It had thrashed sporadically beneath her, still screaming a scream that sounded like it came from the graves of the deceased and the lips of a banshee. And then she began to notice the minor details, like how she could feel the distinct scratchy fabric of a suitcase, and that her hands were gripping arms instead of whatever her mind had conjured up for her. She stopped screaming as the other girl did and was enchanted.

Carnation pink hair was given a silver glow, fanned out like a halo around a head with sharply delicate features. Eyes that seemed almost too wide were a bright, bottled green that rivaled cut emeralds, offset beautifully by the jumping mint highlights surrounding an obsidian pupil. Pink lashes framed eyes that reminded the girl of healthy grass after the morning dew and rosy lips were parted in fright. Slowly, the girl with black hair released her death grip on the other girl's arms and let out a relieved sob. The girl with pink hair suddenly let out a short bark of laughter, raising her freed arms to rub away tears of fear that escaped her enchanting orbs.

Sakura scrubbed her eyes free of liquid as the girl above her rolled to the side, smiling half-heartedly. Sakura sat up and looked to her right where the girl was, a palm firmly placed over her heart as both tried to calm their racing hearts. They both broke out into shaky laughter.

"Y-you scared me!"

"You tackled _me!_" The girl grinned running a hand through her hair. "Sorry, are you hurt?" Sakura checked herself, then shook her head. "No, you?" The girl shook her head in turn. "No, I-I'm fine."

"That's good then," Sakura murmured, brushing herself off. A silence followed, one that teetered dangerously on awkward so she broke the quiet before it got too long. "My name's Sakura. Haruno Sakura." The stranger smiled kindly as Sakura stood. "Hyuuga Hinata," the girl answered, accepting the hand that the pink-haired girl offered. Sakura hauled the other to her feet, smiling. "But y-you can c-call me Hinata."

"Hinata, then. You can call me Sakura if you want." The girl nodded shyly. "Why were you running anyways?" The girl's cheeks immediately flushed. "W-well I got a little spooked," she admitted quietly. "I was originally with my Seeker, but he…"

"Bailed," Sakura finished angrily. "Yeah, my ride did too. Little prick basically tossed me out onto the road and then made the road disappear."

"H-how long have you been out here?" Sakura shrugged delicately, looking at the haunting canopy above them. "I dunno. Maybe ten, fifteen minutes or so." Hinata hummed. "I've been out here for an hour."

"An _hour?!" _

"Yes," she nodded firmly, a hint of desperation in her expression. "I'm so glad I found someone!" Sakura nodded her head in sympathy, looking around them again. Her eyes landed on the Hintata again. "You don't happen to be going to Ashford, are you?"

"I'm a-attending this year."

"So am I," Sakura smiled, then frowned. "I guess you don't know where it is." Hinata shook her head helplessly, poking her index fingers together in what Sakura assumed was a nervous habit. Sakura sighed, suddenly feeling very weary and annoyed. Will everything in this world be so cryptic and difficult? "Hey," she called softly. "Where are you bags?"

"Eh?" Hinata looked surprised and glanced down at herself. Sure enough, all of her bags were missing. All she had were the clothes on her back, which comprised of long jeans, ratty hiking boots, and a worn shirt that looked three sizes too big that really didn't compliment her at all. A furrow crested her brow as she began to worry. "I dropped them when I started to run," she pointed in the direction that she came from. "They're somewhere back there."

"Okay, let's go."

"You're c-coming with me?" Sakura shrugged. "I've been wandering aimlessly ever since I got to this place. At least your bags are a destination. Besides," she hoisted her duffle bag over her shoulder and smiled. "What kind of person would I be if I sent you off alone?" Hinata smiled in response, her shoulders relaxing a bit and giggled. "And then where would you be?" Sakura grinned. "Exactly!" coming closer to the girl, they headed off into the correct direction. "So what do your bags look like?"

"B-black, r-rectangul-lar, with b-butterfly motifs that are purple. It isn't too fancy." Nodding her head, she got a firm picture of it in her mind and started off. It was gloomy in the forest and very dark. Finding a black suitcase, purple butterfly designs or not, was going to be difficult. She wished she'd thought to bring a flashlight in her suitcase, but to be honest, even though she knew that Ireland was notorious for dark weather it never crossed her mind. They were approaching a rather thick wall of greenery when something strange happened.

For the reader's sake, we will include both of their thoughts in summative sentences so that the epiphany is shared. Because, you see, as it is mentioned in hundreds of other tales magic is based strongly off of belief. Both girls were strongly visualizing the suitcases, and even though one of them didn't know exactly what it looked like, her intent and desire were perfectly clear. It was enough. Right before their eyes the woods untangled themselves and formed a clearing to which the suitcase was sitting innocently in the center. They froze for a moment, watching the last bramble slither away like shrinking leather before quietly blinking their eyes. "Did you.."

"…see that?"

"Yes."

"Me too."

"Do you think it's safe?" Hinata narrowed her eyes critically, then nodded her head resolutely. "Yes. It's safe." Sakura was slightly taken aback by the confident response. In the little time that she had known Hinata, she didn't think that she was outspoken. Green eyes studied the girl carefully, noticing the calm stare of confidence anew. Perhaps…she had a quite sort of confidence. And in a bizarre metaphor that her mind threw to its forefront, she thought she looked like a sleeping lion. _Lioness, _her mind corrected and Sakura smiled. She rather liked the comparison. Still, she wondered where that confidence came from.

Hinata strode forward into the clearing and picked up the suitcase. Sakura followed, head swiveling as she searched for anymore discarded luggage but found none. Hinata extended the handle, or at least tried to. It took a few good tugs before it came apart from the actual suitcase and even then it was slow to come. When she was ready, Hinata looked expectantly at Sakura, like she should know what to do now. Sakura dropped her eyes. "Is there anything else?" Hinata flushed crimson and shook her head jerkily. "N-n-no." Sakura shrugged, frowning at the stutter that returned to her voice. She felt that the longer she talked to Hinata the less the stutter appeared. Why it was happening now, she couldn't tell, but flashed a smile just because. Hinata grinned in response before looking to her left, then sighing.

"I think it's okay to say that this forest is magical." Sakura nodded in agreement. "And we found my suitcase by thinking about it, so…"

"You think that if we picture the castle, we'll be led straight to it?" Hinata nodded firmly and then gave a shy smile. "It's speculation, of course. I-I'm not exactly familiar with magic. Not really."

"Oh?"

"I-I wasn't exactly a part of this society."

"Are you a Lost?" A sense of companionship crested in Sakura. At least she wouldn't be the _only _one. Hinata shook her head. "I'm a changeling of sorts, but more on the Lost side yet not quite. It's confusing." Sakura sighed. With a wistful smile, she lightly punched the side of Hinata's arm. "That makes two of us at least, sort of. I'm a Lost myself."

"You are?"

"Mm-hm," she hummed. "So now that we might know what we're doing why don't we get to visualizing the castle. I want to get out of this creepy forest as quickly as I can." Hinata nodded her head. "Me too."

Closing her eyes, Sakura tried to remember the google search she did on the Ashford and the little picture it presented. It wasn't much to go off of, but she figured if she wanted it enough it would work."

"S-Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"…should we do this on the count of three, or…"

"Three works."

"Okay."

Sakura settled into to visualize it again, mentally chanting _Ashford _again and again in her mind. She could see the grass and the lawn, the bridge that connected the two pieces of land over the narrow part of the lake, the main fountain that—

"Sakrua?"

"Yes," she answered calmly, although she was a little annoyed on the inside. Hinata's voice was breathy when she responded. "I think it worked." Green orbs flashed open and looked ahead at a sight that would give her comfort each and every year.

Before them lay a short path that was entirely made of pact down dirt. Small bushes that bore dazzlingly bright flowers lined either side of the path. The trees above them and bent their branches and tangled with each other to make archways. It reminded Sakura of when people would clasp hands over your head in a tunnel and you would go through them. Greenery peeked between the bark and created a leafy canopy above them. Beyond the forest made tunnel lay a rolling field of grass on which an absolutely monstrous castle sat. The white grey stone was bathed in moonlight, highlighting the ivy that crept along its sides. Spires rose from massive towers, ending in wicked spikes with silk flags that hung like shadows against the pole. It was an absolutely colossal structure and looked _nothing _like what the picture depicted. It was nearly three times its size! In fact, the only connection she could make was the fountain directly before them, and even that was a long shot. Instead of being circular, rather plain, and made of white stone, it was made up of black marble with stunning silver veins running across its surface. It was indeed circular, but instead of the water shooting out of the center, there were small streams of water arching _into _the center, each one coming from a symbol etched in into the marble. But what truly marked it as magical was that in the center of the fountain, a sword lay suspended in the air, its tip pointed towards the heavens.

It was a beautiful creation, made entirely of silver and decorated with sapphires and some sort of black stone that shone like glitter. Sakura had feeling that this sword was a relic of some sort and couldn't fathom why this important looking thing was just sitting in the air at the most public spot on campus. But, looking at it, she figured she couldn't reach it anyways. As she and Hinata inched forward into the moonlit castle grounds, they noticed that the symbols carved onto the fountain were slightly familiar. Sakura noticed a moon and sun carving, as well as the planetary symbol for Venus, so she figured that the rest represented the other celestial bodies as well. They looked ethereal in a way.

"Wow," Hinata breathed, her eyes taking in the sights around her. Sakura nodded her head in agreement, taken aback at the beauty around her. She thought that coming to the castle in the dark and after her previous ordeal in the forest would be creepy. But it was more enchanting than it was eerie, even the fog added a sense of magic to it.

Sakura jerked her head. "C'mon, let's get all our stuff situated."

"Do you know where your room is?"

"No. I don't know anything except for what I am. I don't even know what the classes will be like."

"Um, I know that there will be things like Meditation and Spellworks."

"Really? They have an entire class dedicated to meditation?"

"It's supposed to help you tap into your magic. I've heard that it can also make your power grow."

"Huh. Watch, I'll be that one kid who falls asleep." Hinata giggled as we walked across the soft grass. "You won't be the only one," she amended. The chatted all the way up to an iron wrought gate that had its doors propped wide open in welcome. It appeared that they had been that way for a while now so other students must already be here. They entered the castles main walls and were greeted by the sight of the inner walls, gothic style balconies ringing the walls in a set of three. Massive stone archways connected the inner and outer walls in a kind of medieval catwalk that happened around the middle of the walls. The area between the outer and inner walls was huge and spacious, made even more so by the fact that it was empty. The cobblestones under their feet were well worn and Sakura could almost visualize a marketplace here, bustling with customers. She wondered if that was what it was actually used for and grinned because that would be so cool

They continued onwards a ways until they met a set of stairs that lead to another set of double doors, also large but this time made of wood. They walked through their opened entryway and stared at the hall that they had entered. The roof closed over them and towered upwards, stone floors were warmed by dark blue and black carpet, the kind that you'd normally see in actual castles. Tapestries bearing the schools crest stitched in silver on black fabric hung from metal banisters. Massive halls extended on either side of them, lined by armored statues and paintings. Looking down one, Sakura could see the shadowy outline of doors and wondered if they were classrooms. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she grumbled sarcastically. Hinata gave an incredulous laugh. "It's _huge._"

And it was. The doorway that they had entered seemed to have led to a sort of splitting point. The further they walked in, the more surprised they got. They counted six staircases, seven ladders, eight halls—which were just as massive as the first—and two separate rooms that looked like dining halls. There was so much that Sakura began to suspect that the way that they had entered led into one of the sectioned off spaces inside the inner wall. There was no break in the endless labyrinth of walls, stone, and lavishly decorated rooms. After wandering around for who knows how long, the two of them finally decided that they were most definitely lost and hunkered down in the recently discovered ballroom, counting the crystal drops that created an absolutely leviathan chandelier that glittered with a silver glow. They lay on their backs, heads pressed together on the ivory floor and admired the gold and silver filigree that danced across the ceiling.

They didn't know how long they lay there, just talking about nothing at all and wondering what the school year would look like, but someone eventually found them.

"What are you doing?"

They were so startled by the voice that they jumped, Hinata letting out a small squeak while Sakura managed to restrain hers to a sharp intake of air. Sitting up from their position they whipped their heads around to look at a young man. He was rather tall, at least by her standards, she was only 5'6'' and he looked to be at least an inch below six feet. She narrowed her eyes. In fact, he looked like someone awfully familiar.

Spiky blond hair that defied gravity stuck up from his head, jagged bangs falling attractively in his face. Wide eyes the color of the sky sat above sharp cheekbones and a pair of lips sat above a strong jaw. He was dressed in basketball shorts and a tight fitted sleeveless black top. He didn't wear any shoes, but she did see a necklace around his neck and a simple bracelet on his left wrist. He grinned and the girl's faces heated up a little bit, Hinata more than Sakura. Whoever this familiar guy was, he was very hot.

"What're you two doing in here? The Balls don't start until December." Sakura got the feeling that he was teasing them, but they hustled to their feet nonetheless. "W-we w-were l-lo-lost!" Stutter to the extreme, Hinata ducked her head in embarrassment. The blond man stared at her for a moment, dumbstruck. Well, it was a little longer than a moment because an uncomfortable silence stretched between them. The man shook his head, blinked a couple of times and then coughed into his fist, the grin returning to his face that was surprisingly a little red. Sakura looked between the two of them. _A crush so soon?!_

"Sorry, kind of spaced out there for a second," _No kidding, _"What did you say?" This time, Sakura answered. "We got lost trying to find the dorms. Think you could point us in the right direction?" His grin spread so widely that his eyes nearly disappeared. "I can give you something better! How about an escort?" Bowing dramatically, he echoed with an overly posh voice. "Namikaze Naruto at your service!" Popping up into his original standing position at their laughter, he grinned and gestured for them to follow him. Sakura smiled as he led them out of the ballroom. Naruto seemed like a fun guy. Blinking as a thought occurred to her, she readjusted the strap of her duffle bag and turned to Naruto. "Namikaze…you don't happen to know someone by the name of Minato, do you?"

Naruto turned towards her, a little surprised. "That's my old man,"

"Minato is your dad?"

"Yeah, how'd you know about him?" Sakura was a little shocked to hear the suspicion in his tone. "He's my Usher." The suspicion cleared immediately. "Ah! You're that chick he's working with!"

"Yeah," she responded dully. "That's me." He rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, words tend to run out of my mouth before they run through my head."

"I-Its okay, Namikaze-san."

"Eh? Oh, just call me Naruto. I haven't been to Japan in ages so I'm used to informality."

"O-okay."

"So what are your names?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"Woah," he turned to look at them over his shoulder as he led them down a flight of stairs. "Two clan chicks at once."

"Clan?" Sakura nearly shouted, startled. They both looked at her a little strangely. Hinata looked a bit remorseful. "I'm sorry Sakura, I forgot to tell you that the Hyuuga were a clan. I've only just found out myself."

"Eh?" Naruto interjected, looking at Hinata with a stunned look. Sakura was still too surprised to do anything but think. They had all stopped in the middle of the hallway together. "Wait, how could I have a clan," Sakura questioned. "My dad's human!"

"He is?" They both said at the same time. She nodded her head furiously. "Holy shit," Naruto murmured. "A half-blood from the Haruno clan? I'm glad that I'm on your good side." Sakura didn't think that they had known each other long enough to qualify him being on her good side, but she knew that they would already be good friends so she let it slide. What interested her more was the insinuation that she would be…well…dangerous. "What do you mean?"

"U-um," He stuttered. "It's kind of hard to explain, and I can't do it very well." Sakura could tell that he was lying. Why, though, she could not guess. But before she could drill him, he turned to Hinata with a curious look. "How could you only recently find out your part of the Hyuuga clan?" Hinata poked her fingers together as they all started to walk again. "W-well it's sort of a long story."

"I estimate about two minutes before we reach the girls dorm."

"U-h o-okay! I'm s-sort of a ch-changeling. Except t-that they di-din't know I was switched. I-I always knew th-that I was different, but I d-din't know why. A couple days ago someone approached m-me and told me what I w-was."

Sakura stared ahead sourly. It appeared that she wasn't the only one who was uprooted exponentially quickly. Apparently people of the Underworld liked to do things quickly. She was interrupted by Naruto's loud voice. "Oh. My. _Gawd. _Your-you're the lost princess!" He pointed his finger centimeters from Hinata's forehead, his mouth dropped open and his eyes comically wide. Sakura nearly dropped all of her luggage. "Lost princess?!"

"I can't believe they found you! And I'm talking to you!"

"Hinata! You're a princess?"

"I-I _am?!_" Naruto rubbed his eyes, pacing back and forth. "_Holy _shit, I can't believe this is happening."

"Wh-what do you mean I'm a _princess?!_"

"No kidding!" They both turned to Naruto for answers and he instantly got a look of a dear caught in the headlights. Closing his eyes he took in a deep breath, and when he opened them again he was much more calm, if not a little shocked. "_That _is a long story. Listen, school doesn't start for another three days. Since apparently both of you are unfamiliar with the Underworld how about I teach you. I'll come here tomorrow at, say, ten in the morning and we can talk it over. For now though, let's sleep on this because _I _need to digest that I just met a half-blood and a princes in the span of five minutes."

They all nodded in agreement and Naruto sighed in relief. "This is as far as I can go. Girl territory," he grinned and then pointed up a set of stairs that curved out of view. "This leads to the observatory tower, there are some dorms underneath it. Since you are early, I took the liberty of escorting you to the best picks." He smiled at them. "Dorms are shared by two people, so you can room with each other if you want." With that, he turned and started walking away, lifting an arm in a casual goodbye. Hinata stuttered out a loud thank you to his retreating back and he stopped to shoot a smile over his back before turning back around. In no time, the girls were left alone at the base of the stairs.

"Half-blood," Sakura murmured, her voice loaded with confusion and awe. The name sounded dark. Was she, pink haired Sakura, dangerous? Hinata sighed, the picture of despair. "My seeker never told me that I was a princess. Do you think that Naruto might have me mistaken?"

"I don't know," shaking her head, Sakura then gestured towards the stairs. "Come on, we might as well get settled. You want to room together, right?"

"R-right." They climbed the stairs in silence, thoughts heavy on their minds. The stairs ended at a small landing, a ladder leading to a trap door meeting them. Sakura climbed up first, lifting the trap door and poking her head up to peer at the room around them. It was very dark up in the room, but she could make out the outline of two four poster beds and frowned. They weren't really her style but she figured that by their size they ought to be comfortable. After hauling up all of their suitcases (Hinata's was disturbingly light) they shuffled around the room searching for a light switch. They couldn't find it. Giving up, they groped their way through their clothing and found sleeping clothes, pulled them on, and then collapsed on their respective beds. Giving out a groan at the softness of the blankets, Sakura bid Hinata good night.

"Sakura," she said back. The pink haired girl only grunted in response. She could hear the dark haired girl shifting and imagined that she was turning towards her. "Sakura, if you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

Sakura paused, stilling on the bed and recalling that that question was supposed to be inappropriate. Then she remembered Hinata saying that she really had no clue on how the Underground worked and figured they could be socially awkward together. "Pixie," she huffed. "You?"

"Witch. I wonder if all the girls in the Hyuuga clan are witches."

"Makes me wonder what the men would be."

"Wizards?"

"…this sounds _way _too much like Hogwarts, but that is a possibility. I just want to know how I could be part of a clan."

"You said your dad was human?"

"Yeah. I thought his surname was Haruno. So either he took my mom's name or he isn't really human. And that I know isn't true." Hinata sighed, shifting in her bed so she faced the canopy of above her. "Do you think we'll be picked on?"

"For being out of the norm?"

"Yeah." Sakura thought for a moment. It was very possible that because they were unfamiliar with the social aspect of the Underground, they would be bullied. People always like staring at the freaks, no matter what so society. Sakura frowned as another possibility entered her mind. They really had no idea what they were doing. What if someone took advantage of them? Sakura decided not to voice that particular thought to Hinata—it was too foreboding to dwell on. Sighing, she settled on the easiest answer.

"If you're really a princess, then I doubt anyone would approach you with ill intent. Me? If half-bloods are as dangerous as Naruto was making them out to be, then I don't think anyone will mess with me either. Besides, this is a place to teach us magic. It's not like we'll be defenseless."

"You're right," Hinata murmured, drifting off. Sakura said nothing for a moment, and judging by the silence coming from the other bed, she didn't think that Hinata would be awake to hear anything that she did say. Fluffing her pillow, Sakura curled into a fetal position and burrowed under the blankets. She'd get answers tomorrow.

She fell asleep thinking about her dad and the mystery that was beginning to show itself about her heritage.

* * *

A/N: I know, it's been _ages! _Sorry you guys or however many people are actually reading this. It's long though and I have plenty inspiration for the next chapter. Sorry for any spelling errors that you may find. I do go through my works to check but sometimes I miss the little stuff. My dyslexia doesn't help. :P

For my other stories. NO. I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THEM. They are most certainly still going. They're not on hiatus, up for adoption or anything. I just need some inspiration for some transitional scenes. For Mirage, I've already written about half of the newest installment and have just hit a bit of glitch with my plot line. It'll be worked out soon though. For A Secret Exchange-I actually already wrote the next chapter but because my computer is old it crashed and I lost what I was working on before I could save it. :( No fear though, a new chapter will appear soon.

Other than that, please review!


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Her eyes snapped open as the first fingers of rose tinted light crept past her pillow to slant across her eyes. The green orbs dulled immediately with the after effects of sleep and blinked a few times, adjusting to the bright sliver of sunlight beaming from between dark curtains. Rolling over in bed, Sakura let out a loud yawn, arching her back and stretching out until her toes fairly shook with the tension. Collapsing with a loud sigh, she lay for a minute, staring at the underside of the canopy of her bed. Tilting her head, she admired the nearly iridescent shimmer to the dark fabric before propping herself up on her elbows and having looking around her.

The lighting was gradually getting better and Sakura thought that perhaps she had awoken just after dawn, which would be surprising because she was most definitely _not _a morning person. But beyond her body's strange interpretation of time and need of sleep, she could tell that Hinata's was spot on. The girl lay in a large bundle at the very center of the bed. Sakura grinned as she noted the haphazard stray of pillows and blankets cocooning the girl. Only a tangled river of black hair could be seen protruding from one side of the fabric mass, catching the light of the morning sun and glowing blue. Awww…Hinata cuddles!

Moving past the nest of blankets, Sakura began her perusal of their bedroom. The comforters of their beds were made of the same iridescent black-purple color that made up the canopy and were heavy and thick. At the foot of the bed lay a deep blue blanket, folded to drape across the bottom edge. The wood of the four poster bed was dark and warm, polished with a matt finish to dull any reflection and smooth to the touch. The canopy was rather simple in comparison to what her mind had conjured up in the dark. The wood rose up to make a simple but sturdy rectangular frame above her, the fabric draping freely from one end to the other so it made a shallow crescent shape. The curtains slid along the wooden bars above and were currently pushed neatly against each corner. She liked it, it wasn't like the curtains that were pinned to the center and had to by tied back, making large drapes in between. She found that sort to be claustrophobic. Reaching out to touch the nearest curtain, she let out a small noise of appreciation upon finding that there were two layers. The first was the thick fabric, and the other was a white gauzy, billowy type of fabric that glittered silver in the light. It reminded her of fairies and she smiled at the thought.

Letting her eyes travel the rest of the room, she realized that the actual square footage of the square room couldn't possibly be too large, but the way that the furniture was placed made it seem spacious. The brick walls were made of a slightly darker grey than the ones on the outside of the castle and were offset by barren wooden shelves. The floor was stone as well, but were covered by thick black rugs, decorated with blue, deep purple, and silver. Sakura stared at it for a moment before deciding that she was detecting a theme. The ceiling was wood and arched upward, leaving angled banisters leading toward the center where, strangely enough, another trap door presided. The beds were pressed up against one wall, the foot of the beds jutting out into the room with a walk space between them along with another rug to warm the cold stone. On the other side of the room, it seemed like it had been sectioned off into two spaces. One was a type of study area, a low square wooden table surrounded by throw pillows that were obviously meant to be sat on. Empty bookshelves found themselves meeting in the near corner and another shelf made entirely up of small cubes was next to those. On the other side was where Sakura assumed they would put their clothing. A _very _large dresser was on one side of the corner, and an armoire sat on the other side. A rectangular full length mirror nestled right between them at the corner itself, framed in black and decorated with silver vines and purple flowers.

What Sakura found very odd was the space between the study area and the dressing area. The wall was bare beyond two sets of racks, equally spaced from each other, one placed below the other. They were empty and besides an enlarged version of the school emblem above them both, there was nothing else on the wall. Below the racks and on the floor was the trap door that they came through the night before. As she looked around, she couldn't find any light switches, candles, or even torch holders so she wondered how they were getting light. In her experience, most schoolwork was done after the sun went down.

Shrugging, she threw the covers off of her and shivered. She could understand why there were such thick curtains on the bed now. It was freezing! She made sure to put her feet down on the rug as she stood up, not to keen on introducing her toes to the equivalent of arctic ice. Shivering a little in her shorts and t-shirt, she tip-toed to her duffle bag and began hunting for some suitable clothing. Once she had secured a pair of jeans, a sweater-shirt, and a pair of socks, she looked around her for a bathroom. When the girls came in the night before, it was so dark that they just changed right in the middle of the room. Sakura wasn't the shy sort, and if there were no other place, then she really wouldn't mind just changing in the room. But that got her thinking…just where _was _the bathroom?

There were no doors beyond the trap ones, and the only other opening in the room was the window which was currently being covered by the curtains. Sakura furrowed her brows. She _really _didn't like public baths. Just as she was going to rip off her pajamas and change right there, Hinata stirred. Or, well, the blankets did. Hinata herself didn't make an appearance until the blankets had been removed in a very messy manner and a few pillows were knocked to the floor. She rose from the pile in a frumpy mess and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at her bed head. It looked like someone had taken a high powered fan, a pair of fighting squirrels, and a balloon and set them all loose on her head. Hinata must have known what she was laughing at because she took the only remaining pillow on her bed and threw it at her.

The blue haired girl collapsed backwards when the pillow missed by a good foot making Sakura laugh even harder. "No judging," she grumbled. "I'm still waking up."

"Your aim is terrible!"

"Let's see how well your aim is when you wake up so early."

"Hopefully better than that." Hinata sat up and grinned. "Maybe, maybe not," she began to look at the room around her, all the while the smile staying on her face. Sakura studied her for a moment and wondered if all it took was for someone to be around the witch for a little while for her to get comfortable, or she was just the exception. Because in all honesty, Hinata and her were hitting it off and the stuttering was almost nonexistent.

"W-where's the bathroom." Ah. It appeared that Hinata had come to the same conclusion as Sakura. The rose haired girl shrugged in response, huddling closer to herself in order to conserve body heat. She looked around the room once again, just to make sure, and looked back to the other girl. But Hinata's focus was intent upon the only other exit in the room. Sakura followed her line of sight to the trap door situated at the center of the ceiling and raised her eyebrows. "And how are we going to get up there?"

"I'm sure we could…" Hinata tilted her head to one side, probably examining the door from another angle. "Get creative." Sakura looked at the door again. The dark wood was only interrupted by black metal fastenings, no handle to speak of. Sakura looked to the beds. "I'm pretty sure any furniture would be too heavy to lift, even for the both of us."

"We could scoot it?"

Wordlessly, they both studied the beds and then turned to stare at each other.

Forty minutes later they had stripped the bed of everything it had. It had moved approximately three inches, the armoire was slightly tilted, and the dresser had been moved but it wasn't tall enough for them to reach the trap door, even with the table on top of it. They didn't dare touch the bookshelves and as they stood across from each other, looking up at the trap door that seemed to mock them, there was a knock. Their heads snapped down towards the floor before there was a tentative creak, and a pair of blue eyes peeked out from under the wooden panel. After seeing that they were decent, the door opened up all the way and Naruto grinned up at them. "Hey guys! How are y—_woah._" He abruptly stopped as he took in the state of disarray around him. "Did hurricane dynamic duo hit or something?"

"Ha, ha," Sakura toned slowly, still shivering in her pajamas. Hinata threw a blanket around her shoulders before shyly addressing Naruto. "W-we we-were t-t-trying to s-see what's up-p the-there." Patiently waiting out Hinata's disjointed sentence, Naruto looked to the ceiling and back around at the room. He shook his head and came all the way in, gently letting the door to drop to the floor. "I should've come earlier," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, lesson number one! Magic is synonymous with intent."

"Intent," Sakura repeated. Naruto nodded. "Yeah. This isn't Harry Potter or X-Men. It's not like you need to say certain words or wave a magic wand around. All you have to do is _know _that it will happen and it will."

"L-like the for-forest!" Hinata exclaimed, remembering how they had just wanted the castle to be there and it was. "Exactly," Naruto beamed at her. "The intent is usually used with some hand sign or another because, for some reason, most people just like it when they can move. Like so," he moved in front of them and waved his hand across the room. Instantly the furniture floated around them, rearranging itself into its proper place. Even the blanket around Hinata removed itself and flew over to make itself on the bed. When everything calmed down, the girls could only stare. "And," Naruto continued, clapping his hands loudly together. The trapdoor in the ceiling swung loudly open, a rope tumbling down to thump on the floor. "Ta-daa!"

"Wow."

"A-amazing." Naruto shrugged and blushed. "Yeah, well, it's not that hard."

"We can do that stuff?" Sakura asked, awed. Naruto smiled. "Intent is pretty powerful. There are limitations of course. Inanimate objects are the easiest to learn, elemental magic comes next, then spells that concern living breathing creatures, and finally the combination of all three. That's how the schooling is set up."

"A-and y-you've al-already mastered this?"

"Mastered is a loose way to put it but yeah, I guess I have. It only takes two years to learn. School years I mean."

"So you're a third year?"

"House of Mercury!" he announced brightly, then smiled mischievously. "The symbol looks like a guy with devil horns. I'm planning to do it justice." Sakura instantly knew that Naruto was most definitely a trickster, the kind that wasn't afraid to set up pranks in broad daylight. "S-so what's up there?" Hinata interjected, looking up to the trap door. "Hmm?" Naruto answered, looking up. "Oh, it depends."

"On what?" He raised his hands as if to explain, and then dropped them, reaching for the rope. "C'mon, it'll be easier to just show you." He climbed the rope quickly and with an ease that surprised the girls, but they followed soon after albeit in a much more clumsy manner. The square opening led to a rather small area that reminded Sakura of dusty attics. The only thing that proved it wasn't was something that vaguely resembled the helm of a pirate ship. It was made of wood rimmed in metal, elegant script scrawled foreign symbols all around the circumference and three handles protruded from the circle. It was mounted on a wall but Sakura could clearly see the outlines of a door. Almost like someone had taken a pencil and drew a rectangle with the steering wheel at about chest high. On the wall behind the circle-thing, were three painted symbols, clearly visible but aged—a pair of crossed swords in front of a shield, a crescent moon with a few stars around it, and a miniature pair of double doors. In the order that was mentioned above, Naruto rattled them off. "The training room, the observatory, and the common room. Or at least your common room. Each house has its own and its own personal training room."

"Oh."

"So," Hinata started softly. "This takes you to one of those three places?" Naruto nodded. "Yup. This is what's called a portal. You'll see them all over the school, and in different objects, but certain areas are reserved for certain houses." Sakura furrowed her brow. "How does that even work?"

"Ah," Naruto grinned at her. "I can see the logic trying to work this out. I'll tell you this now to save you from future headaches, kay?" The girls nodded. "This castle is magic itself. It's not alive in the sense that most people think about, but it does have a presence, and with it a character. If you ask for it to take you somewhere, it will." He grinned happily, patting a musty beam next to him. "Laws of physics don't exactly apply to Ashford Castle."

Sakura decided that that way of thinking was going to take some time getting used to, but already the idea of fantasy was appealing to her adventurous side. It was just like the stuff she read in the pages of some paperback or another. She looked to Hinata and realized that the girl had already accepted the sentence as fact, her eyes eager and her smile wide. Naruto rubbed his hands together. "So, how about you two get freshened up and we'll meet at the stairs and head to breakfast, hmm?"

"Oh, yeah," Sakura said, turning to the blond. "Where are the bathrooms?"

"Huh? Oh. Wherever you want them to be I guess." They stared dumbly at him and he rolled his eyes. "Oh the things to teach."

He led them back down the ladder, explaining as they reached the floor that the castle liked to change around a lot, so when the rooms were vacated at the end of the year it reset itself. Kind of like a game that had been played and was restarted so to speak. Once down in the room, Naruto pointed to various furniture—the dresser, under the bed, the curtains—and told them to pick a place and believe that that place now was also a door to the bathroom. Hinata had no idea what to do, but Sakrua's mind was already racing. Finally, a grin stretched her face and she turned to her company. "Is it all right if I do it?"

They looked at her for a moment before Hinata gave a grateful nod and Naruto rubbed his hands together. "Sweet! Where's it going to be?"

"You'll see, just tell me how to do it."

"Um, okay. So basically you just go to wherever you picked and think of some part of it as a door. Make sure wherever you picked though that it's easy to fit into. The castle may bring a bathroom to you, but you choose the doorway."

"Right," And with that, Sakura strode over to the full length mirror. When Naruto started his explanation, or when she finally understood just what he was trying to convey, the first image that had jumped into her mind was that the mirror would swing inwards out of its frame and that a bathroom would appear beyond. She had no idea what the bathroom would look like, but she knew that what your brain first conjures up is usually the most powerful, so she just went with it. Stopping in front of the mirror, she scrutinized herself in it for a minute, taking note of her bed head, before lifted a hand and placing it onto the reflective glass. With a slight push, Sakura was rewarded with a slight click and the mirror swung inwards, out of its frame, and a large claw foot bathtub met her glimmering eyes.

She could hear Hinata squealing in behind her as bubbles of excitement welled up in her stomach. Her first act of magic had been a success! "Wow," Naruto laughed. "You're a fast learner."

"Yeah," She said absentmindedly, as Hinata came up to her and peered around the back of the mirror, jumping up and down a little. "There's nothing back there! It's like a real portal!"

"Really?" The girls wordlessly traded places, Hinata entering the bathroom and Sakura turning her head to peer around the back of the mirror. Naruto spoke up as she studied the back of the mirror, the black frame indenting slightly but no signs of what lay beyond. It was little disorienting, but she thought she liked it. "Right," the blond called loudly. "I'll wait for you guys by the stairs in say…an hour and then we can grab some grub. Good?"

The girls called their affirmative and Naruto waved them a cheery goodbye before disappearing down the trap door.

The bathroom was rather spacious, enough for her and Hinata to fit in comfortably with some room to spare and was made entirely of white tiles besides the ceiling. There was a large claw foot ivory bathtub next to a glass window, pieces of the glass stained a light rose pink in no specific pattern. Next to the bathtub was a square shower stall with a rain showerhead, and a towel rack hung between the two of them. What was different from traditional bathrooms and this one was the sinks. Now, usually when another sink was going to be added, the sink counter would be lengthened to accompany two, the mirror would extend, and cabinets would double. However, this bathroom chose to have two completely separate sink areas, one on either side of the room. There was a plush white rug with silver outline between the two areas that led to the bathtub and shower. Each sink was sunk into a marble countertop with warm golden veins, a faucet of silver in the shape of a gaping fish and handles made to resemble fins resting just above the bowl. There was more counter space extending towards the bathing area and Sakura already knew that it would be where she would put her clothing while she was showering. The storage below the marble was made of polished white oak wood, shaped to form a drawer spanning the length of the counter, and two cabinet doors that opened to reveal a space for towels and other products.

Sakura stepped forward into the room, glancing over her shoulder at the door she'd made out of the full length mirror and the bedroom beyond it. Her eyes spied hooks for each sink station and the white bathrobes that hung from each. The bathroom was opulent but classy, something she was becoming to associate with the castle itself. And like most things she saw in this place, she liked it very much. She turned to Hinata. "Shower or tub?"

"Bathtub. Sh-should we unpack?"

"Let's meet Naruto first and then we can focus on getting all situated. I'm too hungry to think about unpacking now."

"Me too."

"Sweet! Let's make ourselves human!" Hinata laughed a little as they both trooped to their bags and hunted through them to find some clothing and toiletries. Sakura grabbed her bag of hair supplies and makeup, keenly aware at how Hinata stared at them. Looking again at Hinata's abnormally small suitcase, Sakura wondered what kind of life she led. She didn't want to ask up front, but she had a feeling that Hinata didn't exactly live a privileged one. Biting her lip, Sakura did the only thing that she could think of. Gathering her stuff, she walked to the bathroom and called over her shoulder as casually as she could, "Oh, and if you want to use any of my stuff, feel free. If we're rooming together, we might as well share some stuff."

"Eh? O-oh o-okay!" The stutter was back, but Hinata didn't sound offended or sad. In fact, she sounded rather excited, or maybe that was just Sakura's hope manifesting.

The girls chatted as they bathed, taking turns with Sakura's hairdryer once they had thrown on their bathrobes, forgoing clothing while the bathroom cooled off. Sakura had a flat iron, but she didn't really feel like using it, so she handed to Hinata who took it gleefully, sectioning off her hair so she could straighten it in small chunks. Sakura instead took out some of her mousse and squeezed a dollop into her hand, rubbing it around before working it into the roots of her hair and combing down. Taking out a circular brush, she brandished her hair dryer once again and got to work on her bangs and her now much, much shorter hair, slowly curling the strands around the brush.

An hour later, the girls were satisfied with their results. Sakura's hair was slightly curled and frizz free and Hinata's was pin straight, shiny due to leftover heat protection. Sakura didn't put much makeup up on, just mascara and some lip balm since they were short on time, and Hinata mimicked her, though Sakura caught her staring at the eyeliner and some other tools like they were things from another planet. They wore no jewelry, but they figured that it wouldn't be necessary. They were just going to breakfast.

Sakura wore dark skinny jeans, (the weather was much colder compared to Japanese springs) a tight-fitted green shirt and a black hoodie. Hinata also wore jeans, although their fit was questionable, and threw on an oversized grey sweater that covered her hands when they were down. They didn't bother with shoes, instead just throwing on some slippers, Sakura letting Hinata borrow some because, miraculously, they were the same shoe size. They clopped down the stairs after they'd climbed down the ladder, meeting Naruto at the foot of them. He greeted them with a smile before setting off down a hall, thumping a statue of armor as he went. They started off with small talk, just chatting until they made it to the table for some food. The actual discussion about the girls' heritage didn't actually start until they had sat themselves down at a circular table in the Dining Hall.

Naruto addressed them around a piece of bacon. "Alright," He mumbled. "I guess I can't put it off any longer. Which one of you first?" the girls looked at each other before Sakura jerked her head to Naruto, indicating that Hinata should go first. The girl nodded in thanks before she turned to the blond. "P-please, N-Naurto." He nodded before pushing his plate away, folding his arms on the table and extending one pointer finger to the wood. Ink the color of fire spilled from his finger, swirling before creating a burning image on the wood. It looked like a stylized flame. "The Hyuuga clan," he intoned seriously. "They first began in Feudal Japan, rising out of the ashes of a failed military branch and gained the favor of the Shogun at the time. They were considered _youkai _because of their eyes, and because of this, were used to fight in many battles. Over time, they climbed the ranks and through fear and political instability, became one of the most renowned clans of the century. After the wars ended and a new Era began in Japan, the ascended to the title of nobility, becoming one of the five noble clans. Those five clans still exist today, and are still considered nobility, but we don't exactly treat them like royalty like we used to."

"Why is that?" Sakura interjected, interested. Naruto shrugged. "Once the Age of Exploration hit, the clans began to set up in different areas or they spread out and different places regarded them differently every time. Now, the clans are regarded as more of a division with a lot of respect." He turned to Hinata. "The Hyuuga clan is set up into two different branches. The Main House, and the Branch House. The Main House leads the clan, and the Branch house protects it. There used to be a curse seal that would be placed on members of the branch family by the main family, but they don't do it anymore."

"A-a curse?"

"Yeah. It was given to branch family members at age three, and from that point on they were practically slaves. If the main house didn't want you anymore, they could activate the curse at it would kill all your brain cells, ending your life. And when you died it sealed your eyes so no one else could use them."

"That's terrible!" Sakura exclaimed. Hinata looked equally horrified and Naruto nodded sadly, but brightened up a little. "It was pretty bad, but they did away with that almost twenty years ago. Its treason now to place the curse on anyone, and those who still have it are protected by oath of the entire clan." Hinata let out a whoosh of air. "T-that's good." Naruto nodded, sitting up and stretching a little before focusing back on her. "You come in about a decade after the law was made. After you were born, you were named heiress and plans were immediately set for your training and what not. But, when you were four years old you were kidnapped by a head hunter. He was a hired mercenary for a competing military branch, a faction that is now destroyed due to a war. They wanted to blackmail your father as well as take your eyes."

"My-my _eyes?_"

"It's your ability," Naruto said, surprised. A kind of pity filled him next. "It's kind of sad that you don't know any of this."

"I don't remember anything," she murmured. "It's all just a haze," she looked up to him. "What happened n-next?" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "That's been a discussion ever since the event. We don't really know. Your father and a few men pursued the kidnapper, and they did catch up to him. But…I don't know, it was weird."

"What?" Sakura and Hinata asked at the same time. Naruto rested his chin on his palm. "I don't really know the details, they were really hush-hush about it when it happened. But I know a few versions of the story. One version is that when they caught the man, he was holding you and threatened to kill you then if they didn't let him go. After your father refused to negotiate, the man aimed to kill you but there was a light, and you suddenly disappeared, leaving the kidnapper dead. Another version is that when your father caught up to the guy, he claimed to have already killed you and destroyed the body. But the most popular story, and the one that most believe, is the most vague. In this version, your father caught up to the kidnapper to find him dead, scorch marks surrounding his body. You were nowhere to be found. They started calling you the Lost Princess after that—you were a mystery."

The girls were quiet as Naruto finished his explanation. Hinata didn't really know what to think. The story was chilling, and she had absolutely no memory of these happenings of her childhood, if they were indeed hers. All she could remember was constantly having nightmares, to the point that her caretakers became frustrated and annoyed with her. She furrowed her brow. She was always the outcast growing up. Her eyes separated her from the crowd and isolated her from contact. She mostly stayed in her room, avoiding the outside world and trying as hard as she could to please others. That's where she got her shy personality, she figured that if she posed herself as no threat, they wouldn't treat her like one. It didn't work as well as she had hoped, and as a result, she had a backbone that most didn't really know about. But if what Naruto was saying was true, then that meant that she had a family. The thought allowed a dangerous blossom of hope to spark inside her heart, and she wondered if she should crush it or not. Shaking her head from those thoughts, she instead focused on something else.

"You said my eyes held a certain ability?" Naruto snorted. "Yeah, only supervision, complete with a 360 degree range, a telescoping ability, and x-ray. You can also see the magic flowing along our bodies. Your clan teaches a fighting style that temporarily paralyzes that flow. Figures you'd have something dangerous since your clan is considered military."

Now Sakura was indeed impressed, and judging by Hinata's wide-eyed look, so was she. "I-I have _that?_"

"Hyuuga are pretty easy to spot. They all have eyes like yours you know."

"A-and are you s-sure that I'm the l-lost pr-princess?" Naruto looked around him for a moment, assessing the stragglers that gave them a wide berth in the Dining Hall. He leaned towards them, causing the girls to lean forward in an instinctive huddle. "Let you in on a little secret," he started, his voice hushed. "My dad isn't only an Usher. He's a political figurehead in the Underworld, and I end up hearing a lot of things that I probably shouldn't. Your Seeker already contacted the clan, and apparently they're in a frenzy. Your father and younger sister already departed from their home in Okinawa. They should be here tomorrow at the latest."

"I-I have a _sister?" _

"_Tomorrow?_" Sakura hissed in disbelief at the same time as Hinata. Naruto looked between the two of them before giving a firm nod. "Hiashi and Hanabi Hyuuga. Hanabi is your junior by four years, she was born a few months after your disappearance. Although…" Here Naruto hesitated, as if he'd rather not say. At Hinata's look, he caved. "Your mother…she died giving birth."

"I see," Hinata's voice was sad, but she did not cry. She'd grown up her whole life without parents, she was just glad that she had _some _family. She could feel both Sakura's and Naruto's eyes on her, so she gave them something else to look at. She had a feeling that Naruto was done talking about her past anyways.

"What about Sakura?"

Sakura nearly jolted out of her chair at the sudden attention that was brought to her. Yes, what _about _her? She was really very curious as to why Naruto had reacted the he had to her mixed blood, and fixed a steady gaze on the blond. He sighed when he saw her expression. But before he started his explanation, he turned to a distant looking Hinata. "Hey," he called softly, catching her attention. "Clan stuff can be stressful. If you ever need an open ear, I've got two." He smiled at her reassuringly and she felt a small weight lifted. Not much after all she had just heard, but enough that she could focus on Sakura now. "Thank you," She said shyly. The blond grinned back before turning to the pink haired girl. Mimicking what he did before, he placed a pointer finger to the wood and a new image appeared, this time a circle with the center hollowed out, like an "O".

"The Haruno clan wasn't really much in the old days. It was basically comprised of a family of civilians with a family symbol. When the fighting started in the Warring States Period, they fled to China to escape the turmoil. They weren't received especially well, considering the contentions between China and Japan so kept pushing west. They kept migrating more and more towards the west until they were on the shore of Europe, leaving a branch of family there after one of their sons fell in love with a girl. Eventually they sailed and landed in Ireland, remaining there until the wars ended in Japan, making a living as a family of doctors using the various healing techniques they'd picked up from their travels. As they traveled back, they picked up the Haruno that had married the girl in Europe along with his family, which was quite large, and all moved back to Japan. Now, this is where the Haruno became famous." He paused to drink a bit of water and cleared his throat. Sakura took a sip of her own water, intrigued.

"When they came back to Japan, it was in shambles. The wars and literally torn it to shreds and scores of injured soldiers were just waiting to be healed, even disease ran rampant. As you can imagine, a family of doctors were most definitely in luck during this time. Using a fusion of all of the techniques they had experienced along with their own style, they created an entirely new healing technique unique to their incredible control over magic. They healed quickly and efficiently and soon they were one of the most wealthy people in the country. The Emperor named them a clan of nobility after they saved three of his four sons as well as his ailing wife, making them one of the five. Since then, they've grown drastically, exploring the world in search of even better healing techniques."

"Th-that's amazing," Hinata said, turning to a surprised Sakura with awe. Sakura leaned forward in her seat more, staring at the—no, _her—_clan symbol. She flicked her eyes up to Naruto. "You said something yesterday, Naruto. Something that inferred that the Haruno were dangerous."

"Yeah," he said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "The Haruno may be known as a medical division, but their extent of knowledge of the body has lent them to create some pretty amazing fighting techniques. They have the largest poison library in the world, and they've been known to paralyze their opponents before they could even land a strike. Also, their control has created a technique that's become known as the signature of the Haruno clan."

"And what is that?"

"Upheaval," Naruto answered shortly, startling the girls. "The Haruno have figured out how to not only channel massive amounts of magic into a specific area, but compress it as well. When they release that, it's like an explosion. The least effort and the most damage, I've heard of a few people shattering boulders with the flick of a finger."

Sakura grinned. "Nice."

"No kidding. That's why I'm glad I'm on your good side," he narrowed his eyes. "I am, aren't I?"

"After all the info you're giving me? I would be an idiot not to return the favor. Consider us friends!"

"Good," he grinned, but it fell a little. "About my half-blood comment," he started, spiking Sakura's interest. "I'll tell you, but just know that it's not really…pretty."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

"Okay," he shrugged. "It goes like this. Humans and Underworld people don't usually mix, but when they do, the human blood nine times out of ten will cancel out the Underworld blood so any child that is born is normally human. Half-bloods are only born due to a rare gene carried only by females. And even then the genes need to match up perfectly with the human in order for a half-blood to be born."

"So what you're saying is that half-blood birth is rare."

"Yeah, like you have maybe a two-percent chance of being a half-blood, even _if _all the circumstances are met. You don't see them every day."

"I-I'm s-starting to understand your reaction," Hinata interjected softly. "Wait 'till you hear this," he readjusted his seating before talking once again. "Just let me paint the situation for you, kay? So, presumably, under the rare case that the mother carries the gene and that it's compatible with the father's gene pool, and assuming that the mother's genes are dominant, a child may be conceived. But it has human blood in it, and human blood has iron."

"Oh," Sakura whispered, as realization dawned on her. Naruto nodded solemnly. "The iron in the baby will poison the mother. Most of the time, it kills the mother before the baby is even born. The fact that you're here…" he drifted off, shaking his head. "It's pretty much a miracle. Consider yourself the only half-blood in the school Sakura, 'cause I sincerely doubt that they'll be another one."

Sakura suddenly felt very alone. She thought that every human and Underworld reunion resulted in people like her. She had no idea that it was so rare! And beyond that, Naruto had just told her, in essence, that she was the reason her mother had died given birth. She was a murderer. The thought made a chill go through her that made her concealment ring feel like a summer breeze.

And then her logic kicked in and promptly shoved that thought out of her mind.

She wasn't even an individual while she was in her mother's womb, and Mebuki Haruno must have known what was happening. Yes, that was it, her mother knew that this was going to happen. It wasn't her fault.

Sakura gave herself a good mental shake before turning back to Narurto. He studied her for a moment before smiling gently at her. "Same with Hinata, Sakura. We're friends. I intend to be a good one."

"I do too, Naruto. Thanks."

"No problem!" he grinned at them, throwing his hands behind his head. "Do you guys have any more questions? For now at least?" The girls shook their heads. "Great! Then there's only one other thing you need to know about half-bloods," he swept his hand across the table and the clan symbols of the Hyuuga and the Haruno disappeared. "Half-bloods are very, very powerful. The mixing of blood makes them the best of both worlds. You'll be granted abilities that might not be expected of you, and one of them is what make half-bloods so famous. Iron, Sakura" He looked at her seriously.

"It has no effect on you."

XXX

The walk back to their room had been silent and unaccompanied by Naruto. He respected their need to think, and assured them that the castle would lead them where they wanted to go. He was right, and after climbing the spiral staircase to the trap door that led to their room the girls began to wordlessly unpack their bags. It was quiet work, the two of them moving around the room, only making small words to work out where everything would go. As it was, most of their clothing ended up in the dresser, the armoire remained empty, and their respective sinks were stocked with supplies. Personal belongings were stored in chests at the foot of each of the beds, and Sakura's lap top ended up on one of the bookshelves, a lonely piece of technology in a medieval world. After there was nothing else to do, the girls retreated to the study area, settling on either side of the table, lost in their thoughts.

It was a long while before one of them spoke, but when the silence was broken, it was Hinata who took the initiative.

"So," she began softly, cautiously. "This is different."

"Yeah," Sakura answered, nodding her head. She looked to Hinata. After another silence, Sakura wondered if it would be prudent to share what her life was like before this happened. She didn't think there would be too many other Lost/changelings wandering around the school, and before the year officially started it would be nice to have someone who understood implicitly what the human world was like. She didn't think the people here would understand the word '_selfie' _or the many jokes that ran along the social networking. And while those things were trivial, somehow they brought comfort. It would make her feel less…left out. Looking to Hinata she opened her mouth.

She began with her childhood. Where she grew up, what her life was like, who she interacted with, and after that was done she moved on to her schooling days. How she enjoyed science, art and language and how she abhorred math and history. She told Hinata about how she began to stand up for herself after the bullying started, and how she gained confidence every time she did. She told her about her dad and her mom, although she knew very little about the latter. She told her about her friends and the inside jokes they shared. She told her about her love of mystery and fear of horror. She even told her about strange little habits that she did all the time. Small things, like how she liked her soup a little too hot, or how she bunched the blankets between her toes when she could.

Each thing she said opened up an avenue of conversation, and soon, she knew about Hinata too. The girl had grown up in an orphanage. She was isolated because of her appearance because unlike Sakura, she hadn't looked even remotely human. She was always too pretty, too strange to really fit in with the other kids. As she grew older, she began to realize that they wouldn't like her no matter how shy or subservient she acted. When she began to attend middle school, she starting growing a backbone and while she still cringed at the thought of confrontation, she had a certain knowledge about how to handle herself. Sakura found that Hinata didn't really know all that much about how to look pretty because, as she was never adopted, she never had the luxuries to splurge. She'd never worn any makeup beyond mascara, lip balm, and some crappy eye-shadow that came in those kits for little kids, and she didn't know really what to do with her hair beyond straightening it.

That particular confession had the girls herded into the bathroom before someone could blink. Sakura figured that they could figure out hair together since she didn't exactly know what to do with her now much shorter locks, and somehow teaching Hinata how to use an eyelash curler was fun. The girls didn't come out for another few hours, but when they did, they were worthy of a high school dance.

They didn't end up going anywhere remotely close to a dance though, or for that matter anywhere close to people. Instead, they commanded that the trap door in the ceiling open and the rope fell down, allowing them entrance to the portal Naruto had shown them earlier. They debated turning it towards the common room, but instead settled on the observatory. Night had fallen and they were both curious on what the night sky would look like so isolated from modern technology and light pollution. Turning the portal, they heard it lock into place as a puff of dust escaped from the outline in the wall. With a groan, the door opened to reveal something out of a sci-fi fantasy movie.

The door opened into a massive dome like structure with a glass roof, the shine of the stars and moon illuminating the room in an almost too bright way. An absolutely leviathan model of the solar system made of a kind of rustic, burnished gold color lay suspended in the middle of the room, taking up almost all of it. It rotated slowly, the rotations of the planets moving slowly along their paths as easily as a pendulum swings. Catwalks encircled the model, and at the north end there lay a massive telescope, almost like someone had taken a regular telescope and expanded it to fit a giant. As the girls made their way over, Sakura mesmerized by the slow moving planet models, colors flickering along their metal surface as well as a burning symbol that she recognized from the fountain at the castle entrance. Once they reached the telescope, Hinata walked steadily towards the gold, silver, and wooden instrument, small little globes and discs of glass interspersed throughout the contraption. Chancing to put her eyes up to the golden eyepiece, she lifted her hands hesitantly and fiddled with the knobs. Before long, she let out a soft gasp. "What is it?" Sakura whispered, eager to see the heavens in a new way. Hinata moved aside, guiding Sakura to the telescope. "Look!"

Sakura put her eye up to the eyepiece. At first all she could see was a black blob with a few pinpricks of light, but once she had focused her vision, a new world came into view with startling clarity. A giant of fire, Jupiter came into view. Red, amber, burnt orange and gold streaked with sand swirled around the spherical shape, the crimson eye a bump in the layers as it swirled menacingly. The picture was so clear that she could even see the thin ring that encircled the massive planet and the many, many moons that it kept within its gravitational pull. Bright shots of light speckled the black abyss behind it, and she could even see a streak of white where a comet and left its mark in the space. She pulled away, awed. "Amazing." Hinata tugged at her arm, pointing upwards. "Look up there."

Jade orbs followed the finger to a spiral staircase leading up and up until it reached a kind of platform extending on the outside of the glass. Without another word, the girls raced up it, softening their steps as to not disturb the hush that had fallen over the place. The glass door that led to the platform was circular, two gold handles lined up vertically. Sakura studied the strange lines in the glass for a moment before deciding that she pulled the handles away from each other. When she tried it, the circular glass split into separate shapes and slid and twisted until there was an octagonal opening that they could step through. As Hinata stepped through, the weight of the glass brought the strange door closed gently on its own. The girls hardly noticed, though, too distracted by the sight that greeted them. The shimmer of the Gateway was nonexistent where they were standing, and Sakura was very glad for the fact. Because above them, laid out like a carpet of glitter, was the universe in all its glory. She couldn't even compare it to anything she'd ever seen in her life before. The stars were so clustered together that that it seemed that the black behind them was almost impossible to see, instead coming out in streaks of pale pink and blue. The Milky Way stretched above them in an river of clustered stars and bright globes of color, which they could only assume were some of the planets that they had seen. The moon hung like a Queen in her heavenly throne, impossibly bright amongst the stars, so bright and large that the craters were so easily seen.

"Wow," Hinata whispered, looking around. Sakura nodded dumbly, walking towards to railing that prevented occupants from falling. "This is incredible."

"I don't think that there's anywhere in the world that could be more beautiful."

"Me neither."

They stayed up there for hours, laying together with their heads together and just talking, much like they did under the chandelier in the ballroom. After they began to drift into a light dose, they decided that it was time to return to their rooms and retire for the night. As they prepared for bed, Hinata looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought. After a moment, she turned to Sakura and grinned. "This life is going to be good."

And for the first time since she had left her father, Sakura genuinely believed her.

XXX

"Oi!" A loud voice called over the loud chatter of the dining hall. Sakura whipped her head towards the sound, spied the blond, and tugged on Hinata's sleeve to get her to look. As they made their way over to him, their lunches piled upon a ceramic plate, Sakura took in her surroundings once again. The dining hall was an extremely large open area with high vaulted gothic styled ceilings and tapestries. Along one side of the wall were absolutely massive stained glass windows, each portraying a scene that looked like it came out of a fairy tale. Her favorite so far was one that depicted a group of children gathered under the embracing leaves of a weeping willow, peering out like shy little creatures of the wood. It was earthy with shots of bright color and Sakura liked the balance.

The floors of the hall were stone tiles, designs etched into a few of them and round wooden tables scattered the area, leaving an open space right down the middle where people could walk. The whole scene reminded her of an eerily similar take on a regular high school cafeteria, except this version was much more lavish and grand.

As they approached the table, Sakura took notice of the company the blond kept. One round table could fit five or six, seven if you pushed it, but there was room for the two girls. On the blonds right was a dark brooding teen, his black hair spiked unusually in the back, and dark sable eyes glaring down as he pushed food around his plate. She figured a polite introduction would be all she would give him at the moment; he looked like he needed space. Next to the brooding one was a much lighter version of the first, with slight differences. His long black hair nearly reached his waist in unruly tumbles with errant strands falling into his face. He didn't brush them away, and while it would have made most look like disorganized and frumpy, it only managed to give him a distinctly devilish look. This was further emphasized by a large, nearly manic grin that both set Sakura on edge and bid her for a closer look. Of all of them, Naruto definitely appeared the more cheerful.

"You made it!" he exclaimed, grinning at them and tugging out a seat for Hinata with the ankle of his foot. They smiled before sitting down, gingerly balancing food and drink. Sakura nodded her head. "This place was pretty easy to find."

"I-it was rather noisy," Hinata murmured quietly, but loud enough to still be heard. And it was. Almost every table was filled and other students were still trickling in. Sakura's eyes could barely stay on her own table, what with all the distractions that were being caused around her. In fact, there was a group of people nearby that were dancing…except they were doing it in thin air. Seeing Naruto shrug out of the corner of her eyes, she ripped her attention away and focused it back on the people in front of her. "Meh," he grunted, looking nonchalant. "It's the day before school starts. Most people show up as late as possible." Secretly Sakura wondered if there was a reason for that. She could practically hear Hinata think the same thing. "Anyways!" he went on cheerily. "Let me introduce you to some of my friends." He pointed to the brooding teen who was still pushing food around his plate. "This bastard is Sasuke Uchiha. He's a third year like me." Sasuke looked up from his plate long enough to stare at the girls, incline his head, and grunt. Naruto rolled his eyes. "Don't mind his mood to much. He's just pissed because he had to end his studies abroad to come back to, and a quote, 'a crumbling excuse for a castle and it's senile staff.'"

"You studied abroad?" Sakura questioned. Sasuke muttered something which the girl hoped wasn't offensive before responding. "Yes. All summer."

"What were you st-studying?" Hinata bravely interjected. "Stuff." He cut shortly. The teen next to him whacked him on the back of the head. He glared at him and looked ready for retaliation but for some reason thought better of it. "For goodness sake's Sasuke," the other teen started, an alarmingly charming smile on his face. "Be social." He turned to the girls. "Sasuke and I were abroad studying the natural habitats of dragons," he started, sending Sakura's thought processes grind to a halt. _Dragons?_ "He was especially interested in a specific breed found in the Appalachian Mountains, but we had to return before we could spend any time there. He's more sore about than I am."

"Only because you've already seen them."

"Beautiful creatures."

"Shut up."

"Anyways," Naruto interrupted loudly. "Guys, this is Madara Uchiha, a fourth year in the house of Venus."

"Afternoon," he saluted them jokingly. Sakura smiled politely. "Sakura Haruno.

"Hinata Hyuuga."

"Pleasure," Madara intoned. He then turned to Naruto with a smirk. "I suppose this means you're outnumbered. All us clan kids against one measly commoner."

"Oi! I could pound _all _your asses. At the same time!"

"Are you t-two siblings, by any ch-chance?"

"Cousins," Sasuke answered dryly, glancing quickly at Hinata before going grudgingly back to his food. Naruto took a gulp out of his cup that looked like it would hurt his throat, but it didn't. He gasped after he had swallowed and looked to the two girls. "What have you been up to all morning?"

"Unpacking," Hinata answered truthfully. They still had some loose ends to settle. "Just getting everything situated."

"Speaking of which," Sakura tapped the tip of her fork to her lip. "Where do we get all our supplies? The letter said it would be provided?"

"Ah," Sasuke answered, surprisingly. "First and second years will be in the north wing. There'll be a sign." Sakura was beginning to suspect that she'd need a map and a compass just to navigate the massive campus of this place. Naruto evidently saw their worry because he volunteered to take them. Madara threw a fork at him though, smacking him in the forehead. "You still haven't gotten your things, idiot. I'll take them."

"But _you _haven't got—"

"Off we go!" Madara loudly interjected, grabbing Sakura and Hinata by the collars of their t-shirts and dragging them away with surprising strength. Naruto leapt up and grabbed Hinata's wrist."

"Let me at least have one of them!"

"Fine!" Naruto cheered as Hinata gave him a bewildered look. Sasuke snorted into his plate, but that was the last thing Sakura saw because quite suddenly she was running along behind a boy/man/teen that was dragging her across the dining hall."

"Madara-san."

"Madara," he interjected quickly. "I know you came from Japan, most people in this school are, actually, but I insist that the formality drop. Do it like the American's."

"Are you sure?" Sakura was beginning to get used to having people being called by their first name only. Apparently people just didn't like formality at all here, even though as Madara pointed out, the total population was looking to have a hefty percentage of Japanese students. He nodded his head, finally slowing his pace to a walk. "Travels abroad of have definitely showed me how formality can be such an issue. Did you know that in some places it would be perfectly normal for someone to just walk up to and ask you to have sex with them?"

"Umm…"

"Also, some countries have a different meaning to looking socially acceptable. Topless women abound." He grinned at her like she was supposed to agree readily, but she faltered. Obviously, this man was a pervert and she suddenly wondered if it would be safe for her to be alone with him. He smiled at her though, as if all he was saying was that there were clouds in the sky and that the topic of conversation were perfectly normal.

She fished for a new subject. "Oh, umm…your studies! Why were you studying dragons?"

"Hmm? Oh that's right," he looked like a light suddenly went off in his head as he led her through a hallway, scattered lightly by students. "Naruto told me that you and your friend were…ignorant of most things." She wrinkled her nose at him. Was he _trying _to insult her? "The Uchiha is one of the five major clans. Like the Hyuuga were mostly based on combat in military. We breed dragons and monitor their population density in certain areas. Rare breeds are protected if the need may arise. We also sell dragon parts to the Haruno, which I think you should know."

"Dragon…parts?"

"Eyes, liver, lung, heart, you know, the usual."

"R-right." Sakura's mouth twitched even as Madara patted the back of her shoulders. He gave a look that clearly sent across the message that she'd get used to it and she suddenly wondered how much he knew.

"Speaking of which," He stopped quite suddenly in the middle of the hall, gripping her arm and jerking her to a quite sudden halt. People looked at them a little strangely, but went about their business easily enough. Sakura gave him a bewildered look bordering on irritated, but it dropped once she saw his expression. It seemed to have been carved of stone, all harsh lines and thin lips. His eyes bore down into hers and suddenly she felt quite small with his much taller frame towering over her. His onyx eyes were deep and penetrating, a look she only really saw on adults and was unused to the maturity in them that didn't seem to match his personality, or his age for that matter. For a moment, brief as it was, she swore she saw a flicker of crimson dance like enticing flame.

"We're friends. Officially. Don't forget it."

Sakura's mind went blank.

"Uh…okay?" She didn't know what that had to do with dragon parts or even why he was so serious—no, _adamant—_about it, but she wasn't about to argue with someone who looked like he could drop off the deep end at any given moment, if he wasn't already insane. As if to prove her thoughts, he beamed at her like a child who'd finally gotten his candy. "Wonderful! Let's continue, shall we?" Sakura didn't like the smugness that was pouring out of his voice, but allowed herself to be dragged along yet again.

He led her down several hallways, chatting away about this and that, barely giving her any time to answer, until they approached a corner and he suddenly sped up. Sakura noticed a massive banner that was suspended in the air, rippling black fabric with a silver crescent moon dead at its center, before he dragged her around the corner and to what looked to be a kind of a makeshift buffet line. Except it wasn't food that was being doled out.

Sakura's green eyes spied mountains of crates and boxes containing books, and clothing. There were more crates down the line, but the crowd was blocking her view. Madara steered her into the line, humming an inane little tune as they went. When they finally got to the first crate, they met a rather harried looking woman wearing a loose shirt and some jeans. She was plump with a rather unprofessional air about her that demanded that they get what they needed and get on with their business. She stared at Madara for a second before her eyes hardened. "If I hear _any _suspicious sounds…" Madara put his hands up in a pacifying manner. "You wound me madam. I would do no such thing." The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously, and without breaking eye contact, she gathered three pieces of fabric, bundled them together, and threw them at Sakura. She caught them awkwardly, wondering if they were even going to fit. The woman's eyes flicked down to her and she swallowed. "You be careful around this cretin." And with that vague warning and one last hard look, she waved them away. "Boots are further down."

They were pushed along by the crowds to a much more composed looking man that was instructing that students put their bare foot up on the table for his examination before handing them a pair of boots that looked like they belonged to a SWAT team. Seeing this, she awkwardly hopped on one foot and tugged off her right shoe and sock in one go. "Who was that?" Sakura asked, referring to the stern woman a few paces behind them. Madara smiled innocently. "A _very _dear friend." Her lip twitched as she realized he wouldn't be saying much more on the subject and analyzed his answer with suspicion.

When it was her turn, she put her foot up on the table and watched as a wrinkled old man with a receding hairline and thick glasses slapped a ruler down besides the length of her foot. Madara snickered when she jumped and she shot him a poisonous look while the man measured the length and width of her foot as well as the distance between her heel and the middle of her shin. He murmured to himself before placing a pair of boots before her that she admitted looked like they would fit and she scooped them into her arms. She struggled with what was becoming a small monster of haphazard objects before moving along to yet another man. This one was sharp looking and apparently rather peeved that he had to be working such a menial job. He looked her up and down once before muttering 'small' and turned behind him to throw a black…thing at her. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a tangled harness and a few holsters all tied together. She looked at it dumbly for a moment. Just what on earth would they be needing a harness for? Madara pushed her none too gently when she wasn't moving on her own and they continued along. "It's for P.E."

"Oh," She said shortly, though she really didn't understand at all. The line moved significantly quicker after that and Sakura realized why. As she moved past, the people were merely plopping books into her already occupied hands. They each made a dull _thunk _as they were stacked on top of each other until she had a small tower resting in the small dip all of the other stuff made. The textbooks were thick and old; smelling of dust and paper. It was nothing like the laminated hard backs that were provided at her old school and as she examined the fraying spine of a particularly thick book the faded shade of dark green, she found that she rather liked it. Finally, at the end of the people giving out supplies was the last person. A kind looking woman who smiled at everyone that came through. Sakura had only noticed that she was pretty before she physically felt Madara perk up next to her. "Why hello," he started, "I don't believe I've had the good fortune of seeing someone so beautiful today." The woman rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

Rolling her own eyes, (Sakura just knew that Madara and her were going to have that type of friendship where one could never stop irritating the other) the girl wandered down to where there was a rather large basket that was filled to the brim with silver writing utensils. A nearby sign commanded to take two. She was mulling over just how she was going to get one short of taking them with her mouth before a brilliant idea popped into her head.

She could use magic!

It was perfect. She could practice and the probability that someone would get hurt with an action so small was pretty slim. Pinning her eyes to a specific pen that was propped rather obviously on top of the pile and near an edge, she forced her mind to clear and concentrate. No sooner had she thought had sprung up in her mind did the pen come whizzing at her at a speed that made and involuntary sound of surprise escape from her mouth. Her concentration broke and the pen fell, arching from the momentum it had already gained. She felt it clatter against her toes but couldn't see or bend over to retrieve it. Off to her left, she heard a snicker. She whipped her head around to find Madara grinning unashamedly at her with a spark in his eyes. She glowered at him, which only made him laugh a little again. "You were concentrating so hard," He murmured, but clearly said it so she could hear it. She scowled at him. Of course she was, that's what people did when they wanted to make things levitate out of will power, didn't they? Wasn't that what the force was all about? Shaking his head, he clicked his tongue and the pen floated leisurely upwards and made its way over before falling between the space of the books and the bulge of her breasts. Given her knew found understanding of Madara's perversion, she wondered if that was on purpose.

"How much intent you put into something kind of effects how it will react," he started, plucking another pen from the basket and ushering her along like a child. Behind her, she could hear a few whispers but she ignored them in favor of marveling at how big Madara's hand was against her shoulder while he guided her. "If you concentrate too much whatever you want to do will do it…only violently. Chill out."

Sakura huffed but took his advice. He watched her randomly levitate the books or the pens for a while with a kind of intensity she was almost uncomfortable with and she gave him a pointed look when she felt his eyes get a little too heavy. "What?" he questioned innocently. "You're learning fast. I'm just admiring." She narrowed her eyes at him but didn't say anything else, suddenly wondering if she could levitate _all _of her belongings so she could sort them out in the nifty little bag that were being handed out at the last station. The bags were more of a satchel really, black leather with a metal clasp and an adjustable strap. It looked clean and neat on the outside, but she somehow knew just by the way it sat that it would be one of those that had about a million little pockets inside of it.

Madara picked on up for her and for a moment she thought that he might carry it for her. But he didn't and instead stuffed into her arms with everything else. He smiled at her, obviously knowing what she had expected of him and showing her he took joy out of seeing those expectations crushed. She gave him a flat look, but she knew her eyes were smiling even if her mouth wasn't. Already she felt she had known this man for ages.

The meandered down the hall, trading stories of the human world they had both spent many years in, though for _completely _different reasons until they reached Madara's line. The people here were older, all twenty and twenty one, and she suddenly felt so many pairs of eyes on her that she wondered if she should have just stayed back. She'd never felt intimidated by adults before, but something about the area and so many of them had a distinct 'no kid zone' feel to it, even if she wasn't a kid. Madara didn't seem to notice and kept chatting amiably as he slung clothing and harness over his shoulder, putting his boots under an arm, cradling his arms for the books, and after flirtatiously asking the woman if she would stick the pens (these ones silver with green etchings) in his pocket for him (she refused, much to his chagrin) he levitated the stack of books, pocketed the pens, slung the satchel so it hung on his hip, and grabbed the books out of midair before they headed out. She envied how he could looks so collected with all the junk they threw at them while she looked like a mess, but mentally shrugged and told herself that this was his fourth time. She knew she would have a game plan next time, too.

As they were walking back to her room, Madara at least having the courtesy to drop her off their before leaving himself, they met Naruto and Hinata. Sakura instantly saw how composed the other girl looked and wondered if Naruto had helped her at all. He gave her an openly amused look. "Having fun?"

"Lots," she replied dryly, turning so she could see him over the stack of books. "You get used to it," he shrugged before pinning a glare on Madara. "You didn't do anything to her, did you?"

"Me? _Do _something?" the black haired man grinned impishly. "You're a rather poor judge of character, Naruto." The blond gave Sakura a look and she shook her head, indicating that no, he had not put the moves on her. She felt a twinge of…something for that. What? Was she not good enough to be hit on? But she shook such thoughts from her mind just in time to see Naruto give Madara a surprised look. Madara acted like it was nothing though. "Well, if we're quite done questioning my ethics concerning women, I will be heading to my room. Ladies, good day, and Naruto," he flipped him the bird with one of his free hands in farewell and ran laughing as Naruto's shout of outrage chased him down the hall. The blond took in a deep breath before rolling his eyes so far back in his head that he must have seen his brain. "Look, it was nice hanging out with you guys but he's right. We need to get back and get ready for tomorrow. When classes start they _start _and you'll be falling behind if you don't jump on the first day."

"T-thank you for the advice," Hinata smiled at him and Sakura saw a light dusting of red across the blonds nose that he valiantly tried to fight. It was a loosing battle though and he made his escape before it was too noticeable. Coughing, he gave them one last grin before turning. "Right then! I'll see you guys tomorrow. Classes usually start at six, but since its orientation we'll all be meeting in the dining hall. So…how about a meet you here at, like, five forty or something like that."

"Sounds good," Sakura grunted, shifting the blob of stuff in her arms. It was getting heavy now that she was holding it for so long. "Sweet! See you tomorrow!"

"W-wait!" Hinata called out before Naruto could take a step, he turned back with a confused look. Hinata looked a little shy, but she voiced her question anyways. "Umm…the uniforms," she started. "They're a—a bit strange, aren't they?"

Sakura hadn't had a good look at the uniforms that the surly woman had thrown at her, but judging by the bundles in her arms, it certainly wasn't the classical skirt and blazer type. Naruto looked surprised for a second, his blue eyes widened.

"You guys didn't know? Ashford is a combat centered school."

* * *

A/N: Sooo...lots and lots and _lots _of pages. And info. I know its been a while and I'm sorry, school and extracurricular activities really suck sometimes, but I'm not dead and I'm still trying so please, pretty please, please with puppy dog eyes review? I never really paid attention to it before but I realize now why all the authors ask for them-it makes you feel so loved.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the latest installment. Next chapter is where the actual school starts and you get to meet a few of my OC's posing as teachers for this Hogwarts lookalike I've got going on. I'm trying to make it seem as unlike Hogwarts as I can because I like being original, but the idea of a magical castle was too tempting to ignore. I threw in the combat stuff because who wouldn't want to see a bunch of kids kicking ass on school campus? And also because they're ninja in the anime. Can't diss the ninja, can we?

Quick shout out to Poppy Grave Dreams for the continued support and to SapphireFox9 as well. You guys are awesome!:)


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